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Displaying 1 - 10 of total 27 results:
Natural radioactivity; ideas of nuclear constitution, size in 1920s; Gamow-Condon-Gurney theory of alpha decay 1928; discovery of neutron 1932; Cambridge as a center of research 1933; early theories of nuclear forces; analysis of short-range nuclear forces 1935-40; reasons for writing Rev. Mod. Phys. review articles 1935-37 and detailed review of articles' contents; beta decay and the neutrino hypothesis; application of group-theoretic methods to nuclear physics 1936-37; compound nucleus model 1936; nuclear models in general (compound nucleus, evaporation, liquid drop, direct interaction, statistical); contemporary knowledge of nuclear physics 1938-39; stellar energy production; energy limit on cyclotron; accelerators and theoreticians; nuclear physics at Los Alamos; post-war conferences; origins and development of the shell model of the nucleus; many-body theory in nuclear physics; current algebras in particle physics; origins and development of the optical model; of the collective model; autobiographical comments on political, social, scientific conditions in Germany and England in early 1930s ; nuclear studies at Cornell after the war; building the H-bomb; the Oppenheimer hearings; work as a consultant 1950-1970; involvement with PSAC 1956; views on disarmament; receipt of 1967 Nobel Prize.
Career at the University of Rochester, 1934-1940, 1946, with emphasis on the Rochester cyclotron. The cyclotron's funding is covered in particular detail, with the aid of documents from the E. O. Lawrence Papers (Bancroft Library, Berkeley, CA). Comments on the Rochester Physics Department and its relations with other institutions, and on biophysical and medical research. Also prominently mentioned are: Hans Albrecht Bethe, Stafford Warren, H. Russell Wilkins; Bell Telephone Laboratories, National Research Council (U.S.) Committee on Mytogenic Radiation, University of California at Berkeley, School of Medicine and Dentistry of University of Rochester, and Washington University.
This interview focuses on Morrison's scientific papers, written primarily during his years at Cornell University, 1946-1964. Also covered is his graduate work with Robert Oppenheimer, getting a position at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (1940-1942), being recruited for the Manhattan Project (1942-1946) and ultimately after WWII going to Cornell to work with Hans Bethe. Topics discussed include: helium isotope research; cosmic ray research; gamma ray astronomy; SETI; review of his best papers; reviewing books for Scientific American; Charles Eames; films and lectures including The Powers of Ten, The Ring of Truth; work at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1964-2005); black holes; multi-verse cosmology. Prominently mentioned are: Leonard B. Loeb and Thomas Gold.
Work at Caltech during the 1930s; when the Cockcroft-Walton paper appeared in 1932, he shifted from X-ray work to nuclear work. Development of ion sources and detection equipment, the building of a second tube at the High Voltage Laboratory, old tube is used in cancer therapy. Begins a systematic study of energy levels in light nuclei after discovery of artificial radioactivity. Interest in nuclear physics in Caltech. Nuclear work during the war, and the increase in level of support by Office of Naval Research (ONR) after the war. Also prominently mentioned are: Carl David Anderson, Robert Fox Bacher, Willard Bennett, Hans Albrecht Bethe, Niels Henrik David Bohr, Ira Sprague Bowen, Horace Richard Crane, Robert Andrews Millikan, Seeley Mudd, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Ernest Rutherford, Merle Antony Tuve; Conference on Theoretical Physics (1934 : London, England), Mount Wilson Observatory, Southern California Edison Company, University of California, Berkeley.
Background information, early interest in stars; meets Werner Heisenberg in Copenhagen and Berlin, 1927; studies at Universitat Berlin, 1929; Heisenberg to Universitat Leipzig, fall 1929. Fellow students Edward Teller, Guido Beck, Felix Bloch; Universitat Göttingen , 1931; emphasis on astronomy (Robert Atkinson, origin of the elements); interior of the stars (Arthur S. Eddington) and problems of energy sources; origin of the planetary system of keen interest. Ph.D. from Leipzig (Heisenberg), 1933; Niels Bohr's Institute, Copenhagen (George Gamow, Lev Landau, Bengt Strömgren ), 1933-1934; to Leipzig as assistant, writes Die Atomkerne; sets out to solve the problem of the energy sources, 1936; Dozent Universitat Berlin. Lise Meitner, Peter Debye, 1936; work on nuclear origin of energy in the stars. Work on carbon cycle (Hans Bethe's identical findings, George Gamow's role); returns to physics. Also prominently mentioned are: Peter Josef William Debye, Himmel swelt , Aloys Mueller, Walther Nernst, and Elis Strömgren.
Family background; early interest in physics; chance meeting with Enrico Fermi in youth and early friendship with Emilio Segrè; enrolling in physics at University of Rome; recollections of Orso M. Corbino; 1931 Rome Conference on Nuclear Physics; 1934 visit to Cambridge with Segrè; transition from spectroscopy to nuclear physics work at Rome; reaction to discovery of neutron; Ettore Majorana's work; slow neutron experiments; Fermi's approach toward theory and experiment; failure to discover fission; break-up of Rome group; 1936 trip to America; construction of two accelerators at Rome; 1939 trip to America; decision to discontinue fission experiments at Rome; usefulness of Hans A. Bethe's review articles; style of Rome group; physics elsewhere in Italy during 1930s; contacts with physicists outside Rome during 1930s; Italian physics during the war; postwar concern with elementary particles; recollections of Fermi in postwar period; work considered personally satisfying. Also prominently mentioned are: Herbert Anderson, Gilberto Bernardini, Torkild Bjerge, Patrick Maynard Stuart Blackett, Niels Henrik David Bohr, James Chadwick, Conversi, Otto Robert Frisch, George Gamow, Ettore Majorana, Pancini, Oreste Piccioni, George Placzek, Franco D. Rasetti, Westcott; Accademia Nazionale (Italy), Cavendish Laboratory, Columbia University, Conference on Nuclear Physics (1931 : Rome, Italy), Istituto superiore di sanità, and University of California at Berkeley, CA.
Studies in Europe, 1912; graduate study under Robert A. Millikan at University of Chicago; employment with Western Electric Co. and Bell Labs, 1917-1956; brief time doing experimental work on the "carbon microphone" and long distance sound detectors; review articles on contemporary advances in physics, 1920s-1930s; description of early meetings of American Physical Society (APS); 1933 visit to European centers for physical research; work on the relationship between commercial and basic research in physics. Organization and growth of APS, his terms as Secretary, 1941-1956, during which he introduced "invited papers" to major meetings; problems within APS and within the area of physics in general; his role in fostering international cooperation in physics. Outside interests. Also prominently mentioned are: Hans Albrecht Bethe, William Lawrence Bragg, Percy Williams Bridgman, J. J. Carty, Arthur Holly Compton, Clinton Joseph Davisson, Arthur Jeffrey Dempster, Enrico Fermi, James Brown Fisk, Harvey Fletcher, James Franck, Lester Halbert Germer, H. E. Ives, Frank Jewett, Arthur Lunn, Albert Abraham Michelson, George Braxton Pegram, Isidor Isaac Rabi, Frances Orr Severinghaus, William Francis Gray Swann, John Hasbrouck Van Vleck, Harold Worthington Webb; American Institute of Physics, United States National Bureau of Standards, and University of Chicago.
Childhood and early education in New York, undergraduate education in philosophy at Columbia College, 1932-1936; years of graduate study in physics at Columbia University, 1936-1937; influence of Isidor I. Rabi, the joint NYU-Columbia seminar in physics; transfer to Cornell University for graduate work in nuclear physics, 1937-1939; influence of Hans Bethe; thesis work on white dwarfs; first teaching position at University of Rochester, joint work with Victor Weisskopf in nuclear physics and particles; remarks on war years, astrophysics, cyclotrons, and other matters; Shelter Island Conferences. Formation of the Federation of American Scientists (F.A.S.) in 1946; Marshak succeeds Robert Wilson as Chairman, 1947. World Federation of Scientific workers, chaired by Frédéric Joliot-Curie, wants to enroll F.A.S. (1947, in Paris meeting). Marshak's work on two-meson theory. F.A.S. issues in the 1950s; the Emergency Committee and F.A.S.; Einstein's interests and views on relation of science to society; comments on J. Robert Oppenheimer; chairmanship at University of Rochester; Lee DuBridge; long-range plan and extensive development of physics department funded through AEC contracts; training of students from abroad such as Okubo, Sudarshan, Messiah, Regge. Last half of interview covers the Rochester conferences. Scientific work during the 1950s, the V-A interaction (George Sudarshan) theory (a.k.a. Feynman-Gell-Mann theory of weak interactions); books and works with graduate students. Travels to Europe and India (Tata Institute), 1953. Accepts City College (CUNY) presidency; reasons for leaving University of Rochester. Also prominently mentioned are: Robert Fox Bacher, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, George Braxton Pegram, Julian R. Schwinger, Edward Teller; Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology Radiation Laboratory.
A thorough, reflective survey of the life and work of this theoretical astrophysicist. Early life and education in India, 1910-1930, and experiences at Trinity College, University of Cambridge, 1930-1937, with comments on Edward A. Milne and Arthur S. Eddington; debate with the latter over collapse of white dwarf stars. Move to U.S. in 1937, with comments on the situation at Harvard and Princeton Universities since the 1930s, and especially on Henry N. Russell, John Von Neumann, and Martin Schwarzschild. Social context at University of Chicago and Yerkes Observatory since 1937, with remarks on Gerard Kuiper, Otto Struve, Bengt Strömgren, etc. Work as teacher there, and as editor of Astrophysical Journal from 1951 until it was given to the American Astronomical Society in 1971. Scientific work resulting in Introduction to the Study of Stellar Structure (1939) and publications on stochastic processes in galaxy and in general, radiative transfer, interstellar polarization, hydrodynamics and hydromagnetics (including experimental checks). Recent work on general relativity and Kerr metric; comments on cosmology. General remarks on the social structure of astronomy and its cultural role. Extended discussion of his way of functioning as a theorist. Also prominently mentioned are: Hans Albrecht Bethe, Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac, Enrico Fermi, Ralph Howard Fowler, George Gamow, Robert Hutchins, James Jeans, Alfred H. Joy, William Wilson Morgan, Harry Hemley Plaskett, Sir Chandrasekhar Vankata Raman, Ernest Rutherford, Harlow Shapley, Arnold Johannes Wilhelm Sommerfeld, Lyman Spitzer, Eugene Paul Wigner; Aberdeen Proving Ground, American Astronomical Society, Presidency College (Madras), United States Office of Naval Research, and United States Proving Ground at Aberdeen MD Ballistics Research Laboratory.
Gamow's involvement with nuclear physics. His later work in astrophysics and his interest in biology. Personal anecdotes about Gamow's childhood in Odessa, student life with Lev Landau and Dmitriy Ivanenko at the University of Leningrad, his fellowship at Göttingen, work in Copenhagen with Niels Bohr, and at University of Cambridge with Ernest Rutherford. Emigration to America in 1934, subsequent work in the United States. Work on penetration barriers, saturation, the beta decay rule, and the nuclear droplet model. Also prominently mentioned are: Hans Albrecht Bethe, Hermann Bondi, Walter Bothe, Maurice de Broglie, James Chadwick, John Cockcroft, Edward Uhler Condon, Francis Crick, Critchfield, Marie Sklodowska Curie, Max Delbrück, Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac, Paul Ehrenfest, Enrico Fermi, James Franck, Alexander Friedman, Barbara Gamow, Thomas Gold, Ronald Gurney, Fred Hoyle, Petr Kapitsa, Krutkow, Ernest Orlando Lawrence, Nikolaivitch Luchnik, Chester Nimitz, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Wolfgang Pauli, Léon Rosenfeld, Dimitri Rozhdestwenski, Martin Schwarzschild, Edward Teller, Merle Antony Tuve, James Watson, John Archibald Wheeler, A. M. Wood; Associacion Venezueliana para Promocion de la Sciencia, University of Cambridge Press, Carlsbergfondet Fellowship, George Washington University, Institut de Physique Solvay, Leningradskii gosudarstvennyi universitet imeni A. A. Zhdanova, Moscow M. V. Lomonosov State University, National Academy of Sciences (U.S.), and Odessa I. I. Mechnikov State University.