In 2013 the AIP History Programs awarded grants of $10,000 each to three archives to help organize and catalog the professional papers of two Nobel laureates, Joseph Rotblat and Owen Richardson, and of mathematician Harold Grad. Documenting Rotblat’s work as a nuclear physicist and a cofounder and secretary general of the Pugwash Conferences, the Rotblat papers make up the largest of the three collections. Rotblat shared the 1995 Nobel Peace Prize with Pugwash for its work on nuclear disarmament.
Richardson was “one of the outstanding pure scientists” in the development of radio, television, and related applications, and his papers are rich in correspondence with other top physicists of the 1920s through the 1940s.
Grad’s papers are an important resource on mathematical formulations of plasma physics. All three collections will be described in our International Catalog of Sources.
Visit our website for information on our grant programs for archives, including a list of past recipients and researchers.
