Friends of the Center for History of Physics

Volunteer Friends Make a Big Difference

Some of the most appreciated Friends of the History Center donate not only money but many hours of their time, helping out with preservation of endangered collections of papers,interviews, photographs and much more. But nobody has given more generously than the compilers of our annual bibliography of books, published in this Newsletter each Fall. The bibliography was initiated in 1994 by Stephen G. Brush, a professor in history of science at the University of Maryland. A noted educator and scholar, he has written many works in the history of science, most recently a three-volume survey of the history of modern planetary physics and (with Gerald Holton) a historically-based textbook, Physics, the Human Adventure: From Copernicus to Einstein and Beyond. As a neighbor to the Niels Bohr Library, Steve has given invaluable advice on our book collection and has helped the staff in many other ways.

Recognizing the need for a listing of recently published books, Steve volunteered to compile one for usa huge labor that he carried out for five years with only minor assistance from the Library staff. It is his hope, and ours, that the bibliographies can help readers to recommend books for purchase by their institutions' libraries (or buy for themselves), stimulating sales of scholarly works in our field.

In 1999 the torch was passed to Per and Eleanor Dahl, who most generously agreed to continue this laborious but highly useful task. Retired after a distinguished career in accelerator design at Brookhaven National Laboratory, Per has turned to history of science, writing a series of books with Eleanor's help. The most recent are Flash of the Cathode Rays: a History of J.J. Thomson's Electron and Heavy Water and the Wartime Race for Nuclear Energy. Active world travelers, the Dahls are shown here standing by a monument honoring the 11 saboteurs who destroyed the heavy-water facility used by the World War II German atomic program at the Vermork Electrolysis Plant of Norsk Hydro, Norway. The monument stands close to the edge of the gorge which the members of the Gunnerside Commando team climbed.

Center for History of Physics Email: chp@aip.org Phone: 301-209-3165

© 2003 American Institute of Physics, One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740-3843. Email: aipinfo@aip.org Phone: 301-209-3100; Fax: 301-209-0843