Lincoln Laboratory

Interviewed by
Michael Duncan
Interview date
Location
San Diego, California
Abstract

Interview with Jim Hsieh, founder of Sheaumann Laser, Inc. The interview begins with Hsieh describing his childhood in China during turbulent times and his family’s move to Taiwan where he completed secondary school and college. He discusses his decision to pursue graduate school in the US at Virginia Tech and his subsequent time working at Westinghouse in the Molecular Electronics Division in Baltimore. Hsieh then continued his education first at UC Berkeley and then moved to the University of Southern California. He recalls some of the early patents he contributed to, related to circuit design and semiconductors. Hsieh describes his move to MIT Lincoln Lab where he worked under John Goodenough. He discusses the beginnings of fiber optic communication, and describes the technical aspects of his research at the time on topics such as gallium arsenide lasers, laser diodes, and quarternary lasers. Hsieh talks about his decision to start his own company, Lasertron, with Kenneth Nill, and reflects on the transition from a purely research environment to a business endeavor. He discusses witnessing the growth of the laser market and the international landscape of laser development at the time. The interview concludes with Hsieh describing the sale of Lasertron to Oak Industry and the creation of Sheaumann Laser, Inc.

Interviewed by
David Zierler
Interview date
Location
Video conference
Abstract

In this interview, David Zierler, Oral Historian for AIP, interviews Robert Cava, Russell Wellman Moore Professor of Chemistry at Princeton. He describes his dual appointment in the Princeton Materials Institute and he reflects on the distinctions between being a solid state and not a condensed matter chemist. Cava recounts his childhood in Brooklyn and the opportunities that led to his undergraduate admission to MIT. He discusses his studies in materials science, and his decision to stay on for a PhD to study crystallography and the properties of sulfide materials under the direction of Bernie Wuensch. Cava describes some of the advances in ceramics that was important to him, and he discusses his work on sodium electrolytes at MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory. He explains his decision to join the Sold State Chemistry Research Department Bell Labs, and he describes some of the exciting developments in ceramic superconductors and why superconductivity is a window onto the complexity of solids. Cava discusses the significance of the YCBO collaboration, he describes the impact of the breakup of Bell Labs and his subsequent decision to transfer to Princeton. He explains some of the cultural shifts that allowed Princeton to become more involved in applied science, and he discusses what he learned about academic politics during his time as chair of the Department of Chemistry. Cava discusses his career-long search for new compounds and studying transition metal oxides, and he describes the many advances in thermoelectronics. At the end of the interview, Cava reflects on his scientific contributions, and he emphasizes the value in science of being a good listener.

Interviewed by
David Zierler
Interview date
Location
video conference
Abstract

In this interview, David Zierler, Oral Historian for AIP, interviews Irwin Shapiro, Timken Professor at Harvard. 

Interviewed by
Joan Bromberg and Paul L. Kelley
Interview date
Location
Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Abstract

Graduate research on nuclear magnetic resonance at Harvard with Edward M. Purcell and Robert V. Pound, 1946-1947. Leiden postdoctoral fellowship, 1947-1948. Microwave and nuclear experiments as a Harvard Junior Fellow, 1949-1951. Early years in the Harvard Division of Engineering and Applied Physics. The 3-level maser. Nonlinear optics in the 1960s. Also prominently mentioned are: John A. Armstrong, Nikolai Gennadievich Basov, George Benedek, Francis Bitter, Felix Bloch, Gregory Breit, Vannevar Bush, Al Clogston, James Bryant Conant, William Culver, Gene Cummins, Damon, Robert Henry Dicke, Peter Alden Franken, Elsa Meints Garmire, Alexander J. Glass, Glauber, Gordon, Gorter, Grivet, William Webster Hansen, Herscher, Clarence Lester Hogan, Heike Kamerlingh-Onnes, Robert Karplus, Rudolf Kompfner, André Lallemand, Jim Meyer, Peter Pershan, Isidor Isaac Rabi, Arthur Leonard Schawlow, Julian R. Schwinger, Malcolm Woodrow Pershing Strandberg, Charles Hard Townes, John Hasbrouck Van Vleck, Shih Wang, Welton, Irvin Wieder, Wolf, Zeldovitch; American Physical Society, Bell Telephone Laboratories, Institute for Defense Analysis (IDA), International Business Machines Corporation, Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, Lincoln Laboratory at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Radiation Laboratory at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Netherlands Ministerie van Oderwijs en Wetenschappen, and Optical Society of America.