Physicists as Musicians
Some of the most interesting photographs in our collection illustrate physicists participating in every day activities outside of the lab. This month we’re featuring six photographs that depict musically inclined physicists and their friends playing various instruments. To see more images in our collection with musical instruments, see our online repository . Whether you’re a musician or a physicist, if you’re interested in learning about how physics and instruments perform together, we suggest you check out The Physics of Musical Instruments by Neville H. Fletcher (2010).
L-R: unidentified, Art Roberts, a physicist at Argonne National Laboratory, and George Tressel at a recording session for music Roberts composed for a film on the 1964 Atoms for Peace Conference. Photo date: circa 1964
AIP Emilio Segre Visual Archives, George Tressel Collection
Edward Teller plays the piano. Photo date: 1992
Photograph by Fred Rothwarf, courtesy AIP Emilio Segre Visual Archives
Portrait of Richard Feynman playing a conga drum.
Copyright California Institute of Technology
Photo of Meggers holding a trombone taken at Ripon College in Clintonville, Wisconsin. Photo date: circa 1908
AIP Emilio Segre Visual Archives, W.F. Meggers Collection
Mission specialist McNair, on Space Shuttle Mission 41-B, which launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Playing saxophone. Photo date: February 3, 1984
NASA, courtesy AIP Emilio Segre Visual Archives, Ronald E. Mickens Collection
Dr. Benade (left) plays a homemade flute and Gregory Levin (right) plays the clarinet.
AIP Emilio Segre Visual Archives
