Technical Research Group

Interview covers changes in the organization of physics research departments at Bell Laboratories during the period of Burton's career, from 1938-1958. Childhood and educational background. Early years at Bell Labs; study of photo-electron emission; history of relationship between telephone company and television; work on radar bomb sights during World War II; origins of solid state physics research at Bell Labs; postwar organization and conditions there, design of physical layout of building 1; how Burton became director of semiconductor research; delay of 1929 expansion by Stock Market crash.

In this interview, William R. Bennett discusses his work with lasers. Topics discussed include: helium neon laser; Ali Javan; Donald Herriott; Columbia University; Yale University; Air Reduction Company (Airco); Linde Air Products Company; Hugh Robinson; Lewis B. Headrick; Ora S. Duffendack; Bell Labs; Harrie Stewart Wilson Massey; Eric Henry Stoneley Burhop; Allan C. G. Mitchell; Mark W. Zemansky; Rudolf Walter Ladenburg; Sidney Millman; Technical Measurement Corporation; Ted Geballe; Conyers Herring; A. L. Schawlow; Henry Scovil; Harry Nyquist; Jim Gordon; Gardner Fox; Tingye Li; E. I. Gordon; G. D. Boyd; A. F. Turner; Bausch & Lomb Laboratories; Technical Research Group (TRG); Gordon Gould; Charlie Townes; Theodore Maiman; Deming Lewis; A. T. Forrester; George Dacey; C. Geoffrey B. Garrett; Ross McFarlane; Bruce Bogert; Willis Lamb; Paul Rabinowitz; V. P. Chebotaev; John. W. Knutson; Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR); Army Research Office, Durham (AROD); Vernon Hughes; Lloyd Wood; Marshall Harrington; Alfred P. Sloane Foundation; Institute for Defense Analyses; Bob Collins; Kurt Shuler; Walter Faust; argon laser; Spectra Physics; Bill Bridges; Grant Fowles; William Silfvast; Bill Walter; Marty Pilch.