An Ode to the Chalkboard

Oh chalkboard!
Made of slate or painted wood
Somehow, you have held all of the answers
You understood
And gave us space to fail
If only temporarily
This is your beauty
Yet we dismissed you so summarily
Computers and smartboards have not your aesthetic appeal
But they are also less dusty.

Clap your erasers in appreciation of the chalkboard.

-Poem by Corinne Mona

There’s just something about chalkboards. They have a long history in the United States; their first documented use was in 1801, while whiteboards have only been around since the 1980s. Chalk is arguably an artistic medium , and can be applied to surfaces like sidewalks, while dry erase markers are less versatile and always seem to dry out quickly. However, chalkboards, though not totally extinct, have generally fallen out of favor in modern classrooms and you are more likely to see whiteboards, smartboards, and other tech-y solutions. On a personal level, I have nostalgia for the chalkboard; as a millennial, I’m part of the last generation to have had chalkboards as a primary medium for classroom learning, at least here in Maryland.

Since the Emilio Segrè Visual Archives has the bulk of its images from the 20th century, chalkboards (under the subject term “blackboard”) are prevalent. For this Photos of the Month, hear the pleasant tapping and scratching of chalk against board, smell the unique peppery chalk dust in the air, and let’s take a look back with images of physicists at the chalkboard.

Ronald Mallett (b. 1945) was inspired to go into science by his father, who tragically died when Mallett was only ten years old. Mallett joined the Air Force during the Vietnam War directly after high school and was able to use the GI bill to later attend Penn State University, where he eventually earned a doctorate in physics. After a few years in industry, Ronald Mallett began his long career as a physics professor at University of Connecticut in 1975, where he has been a professor emeritus since 2013.

In this expressive image, Mallett lectures to graduate students in his office about the mathematics and science behind his laser-driven time machine, under the watchful gaze of the old relativist (Albert Einstein). Today, he is known for his work in time travel; check out his interview with This Morning “I’m Trying To Build A Time Travel Machine .”

Chalkboard notes: full of equations, word “laser” is present, looks like it has undergone many washings and always been scrubbed horizontally

This image is over 100 years old and features a physics class session at Colorado College in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Marked June 26, 1918, we can see a neat technical diagram in chalk directly on the building’s brick wall (a kind of chalkboard, if you will), presumably illustrating the machine that is the center of focus of the image, which we think might be a radio telegraph . The students appear to be paying close attention, and the camaraderie in the class is evident from the friendly hand on the shoulder of the middle student. Colorado College had substantial World War One efforts , and while we don’t know for sure, we suspect that this might be a military training (ROTC) class doing radio telegraph training. Colorado College still has a thriving physics program today. If you know more about this image - the identities of the people, or the diagram/machine, please email us at nbl@aip.org .

Chalkboard notes: made of brick, very neat handwriting and illustration

Mary K. Gaillard (b. 1939) became the first woman faculty member of the physics department at University of California, Berkeley in 1981. She received the 1993 American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) J. J. Sakurai Prize for Theoretical Particle Physics. Now a professor emerita, she is still active as a theoretical physicist and is currently studying effective supergravity theories for particle physics.

This image is featured on the cover of Gaillard’s biography, A Singularly Unfeminine Profession: One Woman’s Journey in Physics , which delves into her experience as a woman in the heavily male-dominated field of physics alongside her work on the development of the Standard Model throughout the latter half of the 20th century. Watch her presentation about the book at CERN on YouTube .

Chalkboard notes: nice layered pull-down chalkboard, dusty from use

Robert Adair (1924-2020) is described in a memorial article as “a distinguished, world renowned pioneer in particle physics; but possibly even more remarkable as a warm, all-round human being.” He was a World War II veteran, and then pursued higher education in physics at University of Wisconsin, where he earned his doctorate. After spending most of the 1950s at Brookhaven National Lab, he joined the physics faculty at Yale University and focused his research on the (then) emerging field of high energy nuclear physics.

In this image, which was taken during lectures at a 1961 High Energy Seminar, he is clearly demonstrating something with his hands, and while we can’t be certain, we suspect it might have to do with the circular diagram on the chalkboard. Photographer Robert C. Cowen captured many images of Adair in energetic poses during this lecture.

Chalkboard notes: easel-style chalkboard, pi symbols in upper lefthand corner

Elizabeth Wood (1912-2006) was a crystallographer and geologist who spent the bulk of her career at Bell Labs. She was a gifted science communicator and wrote popular science books like Science for the Airplane Passenger (1968) and textbooks such as Crystals and Light (1964) as well as Rewarding Careers for Women in Physics (1962). In commemoration of her tenure as President of the American Crystallographic Association, the ACA named the Elizabeth A. Wood Science Writing Award in her honor. In addition to her books, NBLA holds some of her correspondence in the archives in the

Elizabeth A. Wood letters, invitations, and a photo, 1951-1977 collection and the

ACA Office of the President Dan McLachlan, Jr. records, 1957-1960 (bulk 1958) .

The chalkboard featured in this image reads “Women in Physics” at the top, with Years on the x axis and “no” (maybe meaning number) on the y axis.

Chalkboard notes: appears to cover a bookshelf, has seen many washings

Sometimes, physics is a family affair. Do we even need to tell you that these two are brothers? William Eckel Drummond (1927-2016) was the younger brother of James (Jim) Edgar Drummond (1924-2010). Born and raised in Portland, Oregon, both brothers were plasma physicists and both served in the Navy. Both also earned their PhDs in physics from Stanford University. They did pursue different paths in life afterwards; William went into academia as a professor of physics and helped to establish a plasma physics research center at the University of Texas at Austin, while Jim went into industry and headed Boeing Aerospace’s Plasma Physics Laboratory. Jim also facilitated exchange programs for laboratories in the US and Europe, including the Soviet Union.

Chalkboard notes: clean-looking, source of brotherly debate