In this interview, David Zierler, Oral Historian for AIP, interviews Shirley Ann Jackson, President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Jackson recounts her family heritage and describes her upbringing in Washington DC and her early experiences attending segregated schools and visiting the Smithsonian museums. She considers some of the opportunities that came with being high school valedictorian, and she describes the circumstances leading to her undergraduate admission at MIT. Jackson discusses the discrimination she encountered during college and describes her experience amid campus protests against the Vietnam War. She describes her undergraduate thesis on tunneling density states in superconducting niobium-titanium alloys, and she explains why the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. was central to her decision to remain at MIT for graduate school. Jackson describes her thesis research officially under the direction of Jim Young but in reality more with Roman Jackiw. She discusses her experience as a postdoctoral researcher Fermilab, where she continued her thesis research on one-particle inclusive reactions, and then CERN, where she worked as a fellow of the Ford Foundation, and from which she used as a home base to travel in Europe. Jackson describes her subsequent work at Bell Labs where she focused on the electronic and optical properties of layered materials. She explains her decision to join the faculty at Rutgers University and she describes the moment not long after when President Clinton asked her to become the Chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Jackson recounts the history and structure of the NRC and she shares her views on the role of nuclear power as an energy sources and as part of the solution for climate change. She describes the interplay between regulation and private industry from her vantage point of leading the NRC and the responsibility of ensuring safety in the civilian nuclear energy industry. Jackson discusses her work as a board member of the New York Stock Exchange, and she explains the circumstances that led to her being named President of RPI. She describes the process for establishing a mandate and a vision for the university as she assumed leadership. Jackson discusses her work in the Obama administration as a member of PCAST and the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, and she explains why as president of a university it is important not to get caught up in the political controversies of any particular day. She shares her views on the importance of diversity and inclusivity in higher education and she describes how RPI has dealt with broader issues of racial justice in 2020. Jackson discusses her work on Governor Andrew Cuomo’s coronavirus task force, and what she has learned from the pandemic. She describes why being awarded the National Medal of Science is so important to her personally and she reflects on her contributions in physics, and particularly on the properties of unique two-dimensional systems. At the end of the interview, Jackson describes her central focus on guiding RPI through the pandemic and championing environmental issues.
Elizabeth Paris interviews Wolfgang Panofsky, Director of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center from 1961 to 1984. In this interview, Panofsky discusses the design and construction of particle accelerators and colliders at SLAC, especially the SPEAR (Stanford Positron Electron Accelerating Ring) collider, and his work with Gerard O’Neil, Bernard Gittelman, Carl Barber, and Burt Richter. Panofsky describes his influence on science and national security policy as a member of the President’s Science Advisory Committee, his role in the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, and his involvement with the Atomic Energy Commission and the Congressional Joint Committee on Atomic Energy.
In this interview Herbert York discusses topics such as: Richard Garwin, Edward Teller, hydrogen bomb, Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, nuclear weapons, Antiballistic Missiles (ABM), JASON, President's Science Advisory Committee (PSAC), Permissive Action Links (PAL), command and control system, Harold Brown, satellites, global positioning system (GPS), nuclear test ban treaty. York's wife, Sybil York, occasionally participates in the interview as well.This interview is part of a collection of interviews on the life and work of Richard Garwin. To see all associated interviews, click here.
In this interview Robert Kohler discusses topics such as: Richard Garwin, President's Science Advisory Committee (PSAC), charged-couple devices (CCD), National Reconnaissance Office (NRO).This interview is part of a collection of interviews on the life and work of Richard Garwin. To see all associated interviews, click here.
In this interview Carl Kaysen discusses topics such as: Richard Garwin, President's Science Advisory Committee (PSAC), John F. Kennedy, science policy, STARFISH, Jerome Wiesner, Single Integrated Operational Plan (SIOP), nuclear weapons.This interview is part of a collection of interviews on the life and work of Richard Garwin. To see all associated interviews, click here.
In this interview Murray Gell-Mann discusses topics such as: Richard Garwin, University of Chicago, particle physics, strangeness, Leon Lederman, nuclear defense policy, JASON, electronic fence, President's Science Advisory Committee (PSAC), Richard Nixon, supersonic transport (SST), Jay Keyworth, Star Wars. This interview is part of a collection of interviews on the life and work of Richard Garwin. To see all associated interviews, click here.
In this interview Richard Garwin discusses topics such as: STARFISH, Bill Hess, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), thermonuclear explosions, President's Science Advisory Committee (PSAC), satellites, Soviet Union, Apollo space program, President John F. Kennedy, Carl Kaysen.This interview is part of a collection of interviews on the life and work of Richard Garwin. To see all associated interviews, click here.
In this interview Richard Garwin discusses topics such as: the President's Science Advisory Committee (PSAC).This interview is part of a collection of interviews on the life and work of Richard Garwin. To see all associated interviews, click here.
In this interview Edward Frieman discusses topics such as: Richard Garwin, Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), White House Science Council, Ronald Reagan, Soviet Union.This interview is part of a collection of interviews on the life and work of Richard Garwin. To see all associated interviews, click here.
In this interview Charles A. "Bert" Fowler discusses topics such as: Richard Garwin, Luis Alvarez, President's Science Advisory Committee (PSAC), Alain Enthoven, Military Aircraft Panel, military intelligence.This interview is part of a collection of interviews on the life and work of Richard Garwin. To see all associated interviews, click here.
