Oral History Interviews

Interviews that offer unique insights into the lives, works, and personalities of modern scientists

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Displaying 1 - 5 of total 5 results:

Greenstein Jesse A1

Jesse Greenstein

Interviewed by: 
Paul Wright
Interview date: 
Wednesday, 31 July 1974
Location: 
Jesse Greenstein's home, Pasadena, California

Childhood in New York; high school experience at Horace Mann; Harvard undergraduate at the age of 15. Impressions of ordeal with Harlow Shapley. Depression years in the family business, return to a very changed Harvard in 1934. Thesis work on Interstellar Absorption (Bart Bok), Ph.D. 1937. Postdoc at Yerkes Observatory (Otto Struve) working on Upsilon Sagittarius. Develops the 140-degree camera (the Greenstein-Louis G.

Greenstein Jesse B1

Jesse Greenstein – Session I

Interviewed by: 
Spencer R. Weart
Interview date: 
Thursday, 7 April 1977
Location: 
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California

Childhood in New York City; studying astronomy and literature at Harvard (1925-1929, M.A. 1930); work during the Depression in real estate and at Columbia; graduate-education in the new astrophysics at Harvard (1934-1937), contacts with H. Shapley, C. Payne, H.N. Russell; work at Yerkes from 1937: nebula spectroscopy, stellar composition, stellar atmospheres; contacts with 0. Struve, S. Chandrasekhar, B. Stromgren; optical design work during World War II. Move to Cal Tech, 1947, contacts with W. Baade, I. Bowen, F. Zwicky, N. Schmidt, L.

Greenstein Jesse B1

Jesse Greenstein – Session II

Interviewed by: 
Spencer R. Weart
Interview date: 
Thursday, 21 July 1977
Location: 
Robinson Laboratory, Pasadena, California

Childhood in New York City; studying astronomy and literature at Harvard (1925-1929, M.A. 1930); work during the Depression in real estate and at Columbia; graduate-education in the new astrophysics at Harvard (1934-1937), contacts with H. Shapley, C. Payne, H.N. Russell; work at Yerkes from 1937: nebula spectroscopy, stellar composition, stellar atmospheres; contacts with 0. Struve, S. Chandrasekhar, B. Stromgren; optical design work during World War II. Move to Cal Tech, 1947, contacts with W. Baade, I. Bowen, F. Zwicky, N. Schmidt, L.

Greenstein Jesse B1

Jesse Greenstein – Session III

Interviewed by: 
Spencer R. Weart
Interview date: 
Tuesday, 26 July 1977
Location: 
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California

Childhood in New York City; studying astronomy and literature at Harvard (1925-1929, M.A. 1930); work during the Depression in real estate and at Columbia; graduate-education in the new astrophysics at Harvard (1934-1937), contacts with H. Shapley, C. Payne, H.N. Russell; work at Yerkes from 1937: nebula spectroscopy, stellar composition, stellar atmospheres; contacts with 0. Struve, S. Chandrasekhar, B. Stromgren; optical design work during World War II. Move to Cal Tech, 1947, contacts with W. Baade, I. Bowen, F. Zwicky, N. Schmidt, L.

Greenstein Jesse B1

Jesse Greenstein – Session IV

Interviewed by: 
Spencer R. Weart
Interview date: 
Friday, 19 May 1978
Location: 
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California

Childhood in New York City; studying astronomy and literature at Harvard (1925-1929, M.A. 1930); work during the Depression in real estate and at Columbia; graduate-education in the new astrophysics at Harvard (1934-1937), contacts with H. Shapley, C. Payne, H.N. Russell; work at Yerkes from 1937: nebula spectroscopy, stellar composition, stellar atmospheres; contacts with 0. Struve, S. Chandrasekhar, B. Stromgren; optical design work during World War II. Move to Cal Tech, 1947, contacts with W. Baade, I. Bowen, F. Zwicky, N. Schmidt, L.