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Family background; freshman course instructors at the University of Chicago; war-time training program; living next door to Manhattan Project people; Radio Research Laboratory at Harvard University; work on jamming tools (radar counter-measures) and antennas; work and graduate study at the Institute for the Study of Metals the University of Chicago (with Clarence Zener); work with Andy Lawson; E. R. Piore and the Office of Naval Research; early history of the Institute for the Study of Metals; Cyril Stanley Smith; Zener’s course in solid state physics; Lazarus’ doctoral dissertation; University of Illinois at Urbana, fall 1949; work on diffusion in metals; interaction with Frederick Seitz and Japanese physicists. Also prominently mentioned are: Chuck Barrett, Enrico Fermi, Doug Fitchen, James Franck, Bill Fretter, George Friedel, Lou Girifalco, Marvin Leonard Goldberger, Mel Gottlieb, Pete Harvey, Gerald Holton, Hillard B. Huntington, Peter Gerald Kruger, Ting Tsui Kuh, Harvey Brace Lemon, Earl Long, Francis Wheeler Loomis, Robert Joseph Maurer, Douglas McArthur, Louis Ridenour, Win Salzberg, Larry Slitkin, Don Stevens, Leo Szilard, Carl Tomizuka, Chen Ning Yang; Argonne National Laboratory, Columbia University, General Electric Company, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States Atomic Energy Commission.
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.