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This interview is concerned primarily with two periods in the life of Libby (1927-1940 and 1945-1954). After briefly discussing his early life and education, considerable attention is focused upon Libby's undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate years (1927-1940) at the University of California, Berkeley. Major topics included are: growth of Berkeley science; Gilbert Lewis, Wendell Latimer and Ernest Lawrence; Libby's development of low-level counters; radiochemistry and discovery of isotopes; cross-disciplinary collaboration; Libby's interest in carbon-14; association with Samuel Ruben and Martin Kamen; hot atom chemistry and nuclear isomerism; Libby's experiences at Princeton during 1940-1941 (hot atom chemistry, development of heterogeneous catalysis and research on tritium) and his work on the chemistry of the diffusion process during WWII at Columbia University (Manhattan Project) are mentioned; the other major portion of the interview concentrates on Libby's development of the radiocarbon dating technique at the University of Chicago (1945-1954); special attention is devoted to: measurement of half-life of carbon-14; importance to Libby of Harold Urey; secrecy policy; collaboration with Aristid von Grosse, James Arnold and Ernest Anderson; improved counting technologies; first contacts with archaeologists; Viking Fund and cross-disciplinary collaboration; communicating ideas; Sunshine Project and fallout; AEC appointment; concluding remarks.
This interview is concerned primarily with two periods in the life of Libby (1927-1940 and 1945-1954). After briefly discussing his early life and education, considerable attention is focused upon Libby's undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate years (1927-1940) at the University of California, Berkeley. Major topics included are: growth of Berkeley science; Gilbert Lewis, Wendell Latimer and Ernest Lawrence; Libby's development of low-level counters; radiochemistry and discovery of isotopes; cross-disciplinary collaboration; Libby's interest in carbon-14; association with Samuel Ruben and Martin Kamen; hot atom chemistry and nuclear isomerism; Libby's experiences at Princeton during 1940-1941 (hot atom chemistry, development of heterogeneous catalysis and research on tritium) and his work on the chemistry of the diffusion process during WWII at Columbia University (Manhattan Project) are mentioned; the other major portion of the interview concentrates on Libby's development of the radiocarbon dating technique at the University of Chicago (1945-1954); special attention is devoted to: measurement of half-life of carbon-14; importance to Libby of Harold Urey; secrecy policy; collaboration with Aristid von Grosse, James Arnold and Ernest Anderson; improved counting technologies; first contacts with archaeologists; Viking Fund and cross-disciplinary collaboration; communicating ideas; Sunshine Project and fallout; AEC appointment; concluding remarks.
Student years at Niels Bohr Institutet in the late 1920s; influence of Lev Landau and study of Hans Bethe's thesis on scattering of fast neutrons and to a lectureship at the Institute in 1929. Bohr's switch to nuclear physics in mid-1930s; the informal conferences at the Institute. Travels to Rome and to Cambridge, 1935-1936, reporting to Bohr on Fermi's work on resonances. Travel to U.S.S.R. in September and October of 1936; gives talk on Bohr's paper on neutron captive and nuclear constitution; collaboration with Leipunski on k-electrons; comments on life at Physical Technical Institute, arrests of Landau, Houtermans, and Weissberg; tension in Russia. Continued work on capture of k-electrons and meson theory work with Léon Rosenfeld. Teaching; students demand course in quantum mechanics. George de Hevesy's association with the Bohr Institutet (biology); popular science writing and publication procedures. German occupation of Denmark, 1940-1945, and the Institutet, December 1943 to February 1944; comments on the political and social situation prior to World War II. Werner Heisenberg as head of a German committee investigating the Institutet.
Student years at Niels Bohr Institutet in the late 1920s; influence of Lev Landau and study of Hans Bethe's thesis on scattering of fast neutrons and to a lectureship at the Institute in 1929. Bohr's switch to nuclear physics in mid-1930s; the informal conferences at the Institute. Travels to Rome and to Cambridge, 1935-1936, reporting to Bohr on Fermi's work on resonances. Travel to U.S.S.R. in September and October of 1936; gives talk on Bohr's paper on neutron captive and nuclear constitution; collaboration with Leipunski on k-electrons; comments on life at Physical Technical Institute, arrests of Landau, Houtermans, and Weissberg; tension in Russia. Continued work on capture of k-electrons and meson theory work with Léon Rosenfeld. Teaching; students demand course in quantum mechanics. George de Hevesy's association with the Bohr Institutet (biology); popular science writing and publication procedures. German occupation of Denmark, 1940-1945, and the Institutet, December 1943 to February 1944; comments on the political and social situation prior to World War II. Werner Heisenberg as head of a German committee investigating the Institutet.
Student years at Niels Bohr Institutet in the late 1920s; influence of Lev Landau and study of Hans Bethe's thesis on scattering of fast neutrons and to a lectureship at the Institute in 1929. Bohr's switch to nuclear physics in mid-1930s; the informal conferences at the Institute. Travels to Rome and to Cambridge, 1935-1936, reporting to Bohr on Fermi's work on resonances. Travel to U.S.S.R. in September and October of 1936; gives talk on Bohr's paper on neutron captive and nuclear constitution; collaboration with Leipunski on k-electrons; comments on life at Physical Technical Institute, arrests of Landau, Houtermans, and Weissberg; tension in Russia. Continued work on capture of k-electrons and meson theory work with Léon Rosenfeld. Teaching; students demand course in quantum mechanics. George de Hevesy's association with the Bohr Institutet (biology); popular science writing and publication procedures. German occupation of Denmark, 1940-1945, and the Institutet, December 1943 to February 1944; comments on the political and social situation prior to World War II. Werner Heisenberg as head of a German committee investigating the Institutet.
Origins of interest in nuclear physics when Gamow came to Gottingen and wrote his alpha radioactivity paper. Assisted Born with treatise on quantum mechanics. Work with Pauli on quantum electrodynamics. Half-year in Copenhagen (1930) working with Bohr, an arrangement which lasted until the war when Rosenfeld was called home. War years in Utrecht, Holland. Lived in England after war until 1958. Topics discussed include: 1931 Rome meeting; reaction at Copenhagen when Bohr received Rutherford’s letter announcing the discovery of the neutron; Heisenberg’s three papers on nuclear structure; a colloquium at Copenhagen on the Fermi experiments; attendance at the 1934 Kharkov Conference; large scale exodus of German physicists as Hitler came to power; Bohr’s assistance in the emigration of refugees. Shows how the physicists themselves recognized the significance of what they were doing, using as examples the discovery of the neutron, the compound nucleus, the neutrino idea, the positron, the Yukawa prediction and fission.