Wanderlust and Wormholes: Oh the Places Physicists Go!

Guest curated this month by Corinne Mona, Library Assistant

The universal nature of the sciences lends itself well to sustaining a large international community. Naturally, physicists tend to travel frequently for work and pleasure, as evidenced by astronomer John Irwin’s vast travel photograph collection . This April we’ll take a look at physicists involved with various forms of travel from airplane to canoe to skis! You’ll see physicist and pilot Olexa Myron Bilaniuk astride his flying steed, astrophysicist Cecilia Gaposchkin crossing the Atlantic ocean, nuclear physicist William Fowler looking like he was born to be a Swedish train conductor, and other physicists voyaging across our world.

Interested in learning more? This Photos of the Month is a product of the current exhibit titled “Oh the Places Physicists Go!” at the Niels Bohr Library and Archives, which includes more photos, books, and archival paraphernalia of physicists traveling and enjoying themselves all over the world. Come visit the exhibit in person and/or check out these select items from the exhibit:

From the Archives:

• Donald Menzel’s autobiography , which includes his worldwide roamings in pursuit of the solar eclipse
• Edwin McMillan’s Travel Diary, which details his travels on the Rhein river in Germany - learn more about Edwin McMillan’s life through his oral history transcripts
• Wolfgang and Adele Panofsky’s diaries of their trips to China and Wolfgang’s oral history transcripts

Books at NBL:

• Gaylord Harnwell’s Russian Diary
• A year in Baghdad by Joan Baez and Albert V. Baez
• Escape from Leipzig by Harald Fritzsch
• Science for the airplane passenger by Elizabeth A. Wood

It’s like they say: join physics, see the world!