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:
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
Photo of Cecilia Gaposchkin taken on a ship while traveling from England to the United States. *
From ‘Ring of Truth: Doubt’ by PBS, courtesy AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives, Physics Today Collection
William A. Fowler waves from a train on a railway in Mariefred, Sweden after visiting Stockholm for presentation of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1983. *
AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives *Catalog ID: *Fowler William Alfred B20
William Meggers standing at the train station in London-Southhampton in 1938. *
AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives, W. F. Meggers Collection *Catalog ID: *Meggers William B38