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Historical-Archival Study of Corporate Physicists Is Completed


The final report of the History Center’s five-year Study of the History of Physicists in Industry is now available both online and in print. The project is the first systematic study of the work that physicists do in a cross section of America’s largest high-tech companies and how their work is organized and documented. Our findings are based on interviews with over 130 staff—science managers, bench physicists, and information specialists—at 15 companies, comparative surveys of industrial archives in Germany and the U.K., and other research.

Major findings:

  • The funding and organizational structures of R&D have undergone radical changes since the 1980s.
  • Companies haven’t achieved a consensus on how to conduct research. They’re struggling to find the best mix of longer-term research to develop new technologies, versus shorter-term programs tied to product improvements.
  • Many of the companies rely on external sources, especially physicist entrepreneurs and physics start-ups, for innovative technology.
  • No standard arrangement exists for preserving the records of corporate R&D, and historically valuable records are being lost as a result.

Hopi Report Cover The report includes a description of the organization and funding of research and development at each of the companies and provides guidelines and best practices for identifying and preserving historically valuable records.

Read the report:
Study of the History of Physicists in Industry pdf

For a print copy of the report, send an email to:

We conducted site visits and interviews at 15 U.S. high-technology companies, selecting a judgment sample of businesses based on size, industry sector, product mix, and other factors from among the 27 largest employers of physicists during the years 1996-2000.* The sample included four of the five largest employers--Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, IBM, and Lucent--and a range of other companies from the top 27: 3M, Agilent Technologies, Corning, Eastman Kodak, Exxon Mobil, Ford, General Atomics, General Electric, Honeywell Aerospace, Texas Instruments, and Xerox.

*The 27 companies were identified in semiannual surveys of physicists conducted 1996-2000 by the AIP Statistical Research Division.