Virtual reading room in action.
To open this May monthly update from AIP History, we are excited to share a new service! Our virtual reading room allows you to view archival materials and rare books remotely via a mediated document camera. Researchers meet one-on-one with a member of library staff, who shares the requested materials though a high-resolution document camera. The free, one-hour appointment takes place online via Zoom. For more information and to make an appointment, please visit https://aip.libcal.com/reserve/vrr
Event tonight, video to be posted next week
Event video now available
This blog from the Niels Bohr Library & Archives provides a behind the scenes look at the history and collections we preserve and make accessible. Explore more posts here.
Don’t wait for the Monthly Update! To receive the Weekly Edition in your inbox every Friday, subscribe here.
Ben Lee giving a lecture titled “Development of Unified Gauge Theories: Retrospect” at the 1977 American Physical Society meeting held in Chicago.
Photo courtesy of Fermilab
Jan Eldridge,
interviewed July 11, 2024, by Kai Hostetter-Habib
Sharon Nicholson,
interviewed Jan. 23 & 26, 2025, by Anna Doel
Adnan Waly,
interviewed Nov. 12, 1990, by Alexander Tenenbaum
Our manuscript biography collection consists of hundreds of mostly unpublished biographies that share the lives, education journeys, and careers of physical scientists.
Joseph Alexander:
In “Career Musings: Recollections and Ruminations on Space Research,” Alexander discusses his work at NASA and his transition from space scientist to science policy leader.
Brad Roth:
In A Physicist in Medicine and Biology, Roth recalls the role that science fiction played in inspiring his career journey along with his work with magnetic fields and medical physics at NIH.
Philip Kepner:
In “What Do You Want To Be When YOU Grow Up: The Memoir of a Physicist,” Kepner traces his roots from Logan, Utah through physics, ROTC, and a career shaped by both love of science.
Edna Weigel:
In “Daddy’s Dream: Memoirs of a Woman in the Electronics Industry, Last Half of the 20th Century 1943-2024,” Weigel relates how she forged a career in the electronics industry at a time when women were rarely welcome there, and she speaks candidly about integrity, bias, and perseverance.
American Institute of Physics Placement Service records, 1946-1978: Tasked with facilitating the matching of jobseekers with employers in the physical sciences, the Placement Service conducted surveys of employers to distribute to jobseekers and maintained a register of jobseekers to match to employers, as well as arranging interviews through the Placement Register.
We awarded six grants-in-aid this month for historical research projects out of a highly competitive pool of nineteen applications. The recipients are located in six different countries across four continents. The next deadline for applications is November 15.
Bruna Di Fatima de Alencar Carvalho (Federal University of Bahia): To support archival research at the Fundação Getulio Vargas in Rio de Janeiro and the Itamaraty Historical Archive in Brasília on José Leite Lopes’s role as a leader in Brazilian science.
Yuxin Fang (University of Minnesota): To support archival research at King’s College London, Cambridge University, and the University of Edinburgh on the political motivations of early scholars of Einstein.
Duim Huh (University of Tokyo): To support archival research at AIP, the American Philosophical Society, Science History Institute, and MIT on international diplomacy surrounding distribution of the Physical Science Study Committee curriculum in Japan.
Luisa Lovisetti (University of Milan): To support oral history and archival research on the history of quantum physics research at the University of Milan, including interviews with founding figure G.M. Prosperi.
Rebecka Mähring (Cambridge University): To support archival research and oral histories at the Byurakan Observatory in Armenia relating to Viktor Ambartsumian’s work on dark matter.
One other recipient has asked to defer an announcement to a later date.
