March 13, 1942

Governing Board of the American Institute of Physics

Minutes of Meeting

I. The Governing Board of the American Institute of Physics Incorporated met in response to call of the Chairman, at ten-fifteen a.m., Friday, March 13, 1942, at the office of the Institute, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y.

Present: Chairman Klopsteg, Messrs. DuBridge, Pegram, Tate, Gibbs, Gibson, Hardy, Firestone, Waterfall, Dow, Taylor, Harrison and Worthing, also by invitation Mr. E. C. Wente, representing Mr. Fletcher, Editors Harnwell, Hutchisson and Mayer, Mr. Barton, Miss Mitchell and Mr. K. T. Compton.

Absent: Mr. Mark.

II. Report of Elections:

The Secretary reported the elections to the Governing Board made at the Annual Meeting of the corporation on February 28, 1942, namely:

On nomination of:

American Physical Society L. A. DuBridge to succeed K. T. Compton – term until 1945
Optical Society of America K. S. Gibson to succeed W. B. Rayton – term until 1945
Acoustical Society of America F. A. Firestone to succeed himself – term until 1945
Society of Rheology N. W. Taylor to succeed W. P. Davey – term until 1944
R. B. Dow to succeed H. R. Lillie – term until 1944
Hermann Mark to succeed A. S. Hunter – term until 1944
American Association of Physics Teachers Paul E. Klopsteg to succeed himself – term until 1945

The Chairman introduced the new members of the Board who were present.

These elections made the membership of the Board for 1942 as follows:

  Term to
American Physical Society George B. Pegram 1943
John T. Tate 1944
Lee A. DuBridge* 1945
Optical Society of America R. C. Gibbs 1943
Arthur C. Hardy 1944
K. S. Gibson* 1945
Acoustical Society of America Wallace Waterfall 1943
Harvey Fletcher 1944
Floyd A. Firestone 1945
Society of Rheology N. W. Taylor* 1944
R. B. Dow* 1944
Hermann Mark* 1944
American Association of Physics Teachers George R. Harrison 1943
A. G. Worthing 1944
Paul E. Klopsteg 1945

*newly elected in 1942

III. Minutes of Meeting of March 15, 1941:

The Minutes of the Meeting of the Governing Board of March 15, 1941 were on motion voted approved in the form in which they had been distributed to members of the Board

IV. Report of Chairman:

The Chairman made brief remarks on the activities of the Institute and the chief problems before it.

V. Report of Secretary:

  1. The Secretary reported the following mail ballots:

    1. May 10, 1941. To raise subscription prices of Review of Scientific Instruments from $2.00 to $3.00 for members and from $3.50 to $5.00 for others (foreign rates 50 cents higher). Yes 12. No 0.

    2. December 22, 1941. Invitation to American Society for X-ray and Electron Diffraction to become an Associated Society. Yes 12. No 0.

    3. January 9, 1942. To amend agreement with American Physical Society raising price per membership subscription to Journal of Applied Physics from $3.50 to $5.00. Yes 13. No 0.

  2. The Secretary offered a resolution concerning a correction as to fact to be made in subsequent printings of the By-Laws of the Institute.

    On motion the following resolution was adopted:

    RESOLVED: that in any future printing of the By-Laws of the American Institute of Physics Incorporated the reference to the Optical Society of America in ARTICLE V, Section 1, of the Constitution shall be corrected as to fact by indicating that the Optical Society of America was incorporated in New York in 1932 instead of indicating as in the By-Laws printed in 1941 that the Optical Society is unincorporated.

VI. Report of Director:

The Director placed before the Board and summarized the report which he had prepared for the Board submitted to the Annual Meeting of the corporation, which report contained a discussion of the activities of the Institute in the present war period, a discussion of some of the details of the finances of the Institute, and a proposed budget for 1942 together with five appended papers as follows:

  1. Institute Journals
  2. Organization and Education
  3. Combined Report
  4. Comparative Balance Sheet
  5. The National Manpower Situation in Physics

Copy of this report with the appended papers is attached to the official copy of these Minutes.

It was decided to postpone discussion of the 1942 budget and other items of the Report of the Director until after a discussion of the next item on the agenda.

VIII. War Policy for Physics:

The Director outlined some of the problems that have to be faced by physicists and by the Institute for organized physics arising out of the demands upon physicists in connection with the war.

After a general discussion the following resolution was on motion of Mr. Gibbs adopted:

RESOLVED: that the Institute set up a Committee on War Policy to be concerned with all questions of policies of the Institute with respect to questions arising from the war and the execution of such policies.

On motion of Mr. Worthing it was voted:

That the members of this War Policy Committee be appointed by the Executive Committee following the lines of the suggestions in the Report of the Director and that this Committee be given power to enlarge its membership.

There was discussion of the need of money for financing the execution of policies determined by the War Policy Committee. There was general agreement that the Institute itself could not adequately finance the work which should be undertaken and that this should be sought from sources outside the Institute, but that the Institute itself could not afford to delay its plans if outside funds should not be immediately available.

On motion it was voted:

That the Executive Committee should arrange for the initial financing of the work of the Institute in relation to the war emergency by using some of the surplus of the Institute, and that for the continuation of the work the Executive Committee should try to secure outside financial support.

IX. Report of Editor of Journal of Applied Physics:

Mr. Hutchisson stated that it was becoming more difficult to secure a sufficient number of good articles for the journal and asked for suggestions from the members of the Board as to suitable articles.

X. Report of Editor of Journal of Chemical Physics:

Mr. Mayer reported that the expected decrease in the number of suitable articles had in 1941 not been very large, that a greater decrease was expected for 1942. He said that it would be easily possible to keep up the number of pages in this journal by extending somewhat the field to be covered but that if that were done it might result in some embarrassment later when after the war there would probably be more papers offered than the journal could print.

XI. Report of Editor of Review of Scientific Instruments:

Mr. Harnwell reported that the pages published had actually somewhat increased but that the contributed articles had dropped twenty percent. He noted that a new section, namely one on Biophysics, had been started but due to the fact that the time of the several associate editors who were interested in this had been largely taken up by war work the section had not developed as rapidly as it had been hoped. The Editor suggested that it might be helpful if any of the members of the Board would say some words of encouragement to Mr. Olpin who had done so well on the section called ‘New Materials’ because Mr. Olpin had become so burdened with other work that he was doubtful about being able to continue editing this section.

XII. On motion it was voted:

That the Governing Board express to each of the Editors through a letter to be written by the Secretary the appreciation of the Board of the work of the Editors in maintaining the high standards of the contents of the several journals.

(Copy of the letter appended to official copy of Minutes.)

XIII. Report of Executive Committee:

The Secretary cited two actions of the Executive Committee taken at the meeting of December 3, 1941:

“RESOLVED: that the American Institute of Physics go on record as endorsing the principle expressed in the Resolution from the Association of Engineering College Administrators of the New York Metropolitan Region and recommends that the Founder Societies take similar action.

On motion it was voted:

That the Executive Committee of the Institute recommends that the Societies suspend the extra 5% allowance which they have been making for the support of the Institute.”

On motion it was voted:

To ratify these action of the Executive Committee.

(Intermission was taken for lunch from 12:30 to 2:00 p.m.)

XIV. Consideration of Budget for 1942:

  1. Salary of Director:

    After the withdrawal of the Director the Chairman laid before the Board for its consideration the question for an increase in the salary of Mr. Barton, Director of the Institute, stating that the salary of the Director had remained stationary at $7,000 since his first appointment in 1931, that the Director had worked hard and effectively for the Institute, that in his relations with the Institute Mr. Barton had not asked for an increase in salary and had always been most careful to adjust to the benefit of the Institute any payment for time that he had put on other duties for which he received payment.

    Mr. Compton spoke of the fact that one of the stipulations in addition to salary that was made when Mr. Barton was first appointed was that the Institute should provide a research assistant for Mr. Barton so that he could keep up his scientific work, that in the period when the Institute was having a hard struggle financially Mr. Barton of his own accord offered to relinquish the assistant to lighten the budget of the Institute.

    After further discussion it was voted:

    That the salary of Mr. Barton as Director should be increased to $8,000 for 1942 and the budget increased accordingly.

  2. Adoption of a Budget for 1942:

    After discussion of the proposed budget as submitted by the Director for the Executive Committee it was voted:

    To adopt as the budget for 1942 the schedules as presented by the Director, with the amendment necessary to meet the action just noted in a.

XV. Report of Nominating Committee:

The Chairman had appointed a Nominating Committee to nominate officers for the Institute to serve for the ensuing year. This Committee consisted of Wallace Waterfall, Chairman, R. B. Dow, R. C. Gibbs, John T. Tate and A. G. Worthing. Mr. Waterfall reported for the Committee nominations as follows:

For Chairman Paul E. Klopsteg
For Secretary George B. Pegram
For Treasurer George B. Pegram
For Assistant Treasurer Henry A. Barton
For Adviser on Publicatoins John T. Tate

On motion it was voted:

That the Secretary should cast a single ballot for each of these nominations.

The ballots were cast as voted and these nominees were declared elected officers.

XVI. Appointment of Committees:

On motion it was voted:

That the Chairman of the Board should appoint members to constitute the following Committees to serve until the next Annual Meeting of the Board (to these Committees the Chairman has appointed members as listed):

  1. Executive Committee: Paul E. Klopsteg, Chairman, Harvey Fletcher, K. S. Gibson, George R. Harrison, John T. Tate and George B. Pegram.

  2. Committee on Cooperation with Scientific Apparatus Makers of America: Henry A. Barton, J. A. Becker, Gaylord P. Harnwell, George B. Pegram, W. B. Rayton, and Wallace Waterfall.

  3. Committee on Mathematical Typography: J. H. Van Vleck, Chairman, Raymond T. Birge, Philip M. Morse, John T. Tate, ex-officio as Adviser on Publications, Madeline M. Mitchell, ex-officio as Publications Manager, and Gregory Breit.

  4. Editorial Committee: Elmer Hutchisson, Joseph E. Mayer, Gaylord P. Harnwell, John T. Tate, George R. Harrison, Floyd A. Firestone, Duane Roller, Madeline M. Mitchell, and Henry A. Barton.

  5. Advisory Council on Applied Physics:

    • Carl L. Bausch, Bausch & Lomb Optical Company
    • R. R. Beal, Radio Corporation of America
    • Otto Beeck, Head, Physics Department, Shell Development Company
    • Carl Breer, Research Laboratories, Chrysler Corporation
    • Detlev W. Bronk, Johnson Research Foundation, University of Pennsylvania
    • O. E. Buckley, President, Bell Telephone Laboratories
    • L. W. Chubb, Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Co.
    • Karl T. Compton, President, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    • E. U. Condon, Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Co.
    • W. D. Coolidge, Director of Laboratory, General Electric Company
    • E. C. Crittenden, Assistant Director, Research & Testing, National Bureau of Standards
    • George O. Curme Jr., Vice President, Carbide & Carbon Chemicals Corp.
    • W. F. Davidson, National Defense Research Committee
    • Donald W. Dunipace, Libbey-Owens-Ford Glass Company
    • Marion Eppley, Eppley Laboratories, Inc.
    • Paul D. Foote, Executive Vice President, Gulf Research & Development Company
    • Henry P. Gage, Corning Glass Works
    • John J. Grebe, Director of Physical Research, The Dow Chemical Company
    • L. O. Grondahl, Director of Research, Union Switch & Signal Company
    • George R. Harrison, Professor of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    • J. C. Hostetter, Hartford-Empire Company
    • A. W. Hull, General Electric Company
    • Norris Johnston, General Petroleum Corporation of California
    • Loyd A. Jones, Physics Department Research Laboratories, Eastman Kodak Company
    • M. J. Kelly, Director of Research, Bell Telephone Laboratories
    • A. W. Kenney, E. I. duPont de Nemours & Company, Inc.
    • Paul E. Klopsteg, Central Scientific Company
    • W. E. Kuhn, The Texas Company
    • C. H. Kunsman, Chief, Physicochemical & Analytical Division, Western Regional Research Laboratory
    • Alfred L. Loomis, The Loomis Laboratory
    • John P. Magos, Directing Engineer, Research & Development Laboratories, Crane Company
    • E. J. Martin, General Motors Corporation
    • Archibald P. Meston, Research Corporation
    • Nereus H. Roy, Waugh Laboratories, 420 Lexington Avenue, New York, N.Y.
    • George B. Pegram, Dean of Graduate School, Columbia University
    • Harvey C. Rentschler, Westinghouse Lamp Company
    • Charles A. Scharschu, Director of Research, Allegheny Steel Corporation
    • Robert B. Sosman, United States Steel Corporation
    • Raymond Stevens, Arthur D. Little, Inc.
    • John T. Tate, Dean of the College of Science, Literature and Arts, University of Minnesota
    • Wallace Waterfall, The Celotex Corporation
    • Glenn M. Webb, Universal Oil Products Company
    • H. Hugh Willis, Sperry-Gyroscope Co., Inc.
    • Henry A. Barton, American Institute of Physics

    Incomplete

XVII. New Business:

The Secretary stated that in accordance with arrangements undertaken by the Executive Committee a proposal making an amendment to the contract for publication between the Institute and the American Physical Society had been signed by officers of the two organizations providing that beginning with January 1, 1942 the subscription price of the Journal of Applied Physics for subscriptions to that journal supplied to the American Physical Society should be at the rate of $5.00 a year instead of the former rate of $3.50

XVIII. On motion the Board adjourned at three-ten p.m.