Science consultants

Interviewed by
Babak Ashrafi
Interview date
Location
University of Illinois Physics Department, Urbana, Illinois
Abstract

Topics discussed include: Harvard education, war work at Woods Hole, research with Edward Purcell, University of Illinois, Albert Overhauser, superconductivity, Kondo effect, President's Science Advisory Committee, teaching, consulting, computing, John Bardeen, Wheeler Loomis, David Pines, Fred Seitz and Edward van Vleck.

Interviewed by
Finn Aaserud
Interview date
Abstract

Discusses how he initially became involved in JASON; comments on his motivation for joining JASON and what he learned while working on practical physics problems. Describes his anti-Vietnam war stance and working in JASON during the war. Systematically describes articles written while working on JASON, as long as they are unclassified. Describes how he thinks JASON work added to his work in physics. Explains why he quit working for JASON; discusses the lack of feedback concerning the impact of JASON work on defense problems. Comments on a possible amateur/professional distinction with JASON.

Interviewed by
Katherine Sopka
Interview date
Location
Lyman Laboratory of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Abstract

Early life in Illinois; B.S. from Purdue University under Karl Lark-Horovitz, 1929-1933. Visit to Technische Hochschule in Karlsruhe. Theoretical and experimental work and teaching at Harvard University, 1934-1941, under Emory L. Chaffee, Kenneth T. Bainbridge, John Van Vleck. World War II research on radar at MIT Radiation Laboratory, 1941-1946. Return to Harvard; teaching, nuclear magnetic resonance and 21-cm line research. Discusses government consulting work, 1950-1970, especially President's Science Advisory Committee, American Physical Society presidency; teaching at Harvard. Interests in astrophysics, developing physics curricula. Also prominently mentioned are: Kenneth Tompkins Bainbridge, Felix Bloch, Bobby Cutler, Robert Henry Dicke, Edwards, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Harold Ewen, Ferry, William Francis Giauque, William Webster Hansen, Malcolm Hebb, Ted Hunt, Lyndon B. Johnson, Fritz Leonhart, Dunlap McNair, Otto Oldenburg, Jan Hendrik Oort, Wolfgang Pauli, Robert V. Pound, Isidor Isaac Rabi, Norman Foster Ramsey, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Schnabel, Julian R. Schwinger, Francis Eugene Simon, Charles Steinmetz, Henry Torrey, Hendrik Christoffell van de Hulst, John Von Neumann, Isidor Walerstein, Walter Witzel, Hubert J. Yearian, Jerrold Reinach Zacharias; Bell System Technical Journal, Great Britain Royal Air Force Coastal Command, Radio Research Laboratory, Illinois Southeastern Telephone Co., Killian Committee, Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, National Academy of Sciences, Rijksuniversiteit te Leiden, Unitarian Church, United States Office of Naval Research, University of California at Berkeley, and Voice of America.

Interviewed by
Katherine Sopka
Interview date
Location
Lyman Laboratory of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Abstract

Early life in Illinois; B.S. from Purdue University under Karl Lark-Horovitz, 1929-1933. Visit to Technische Hochschule in Karlsruhe. Theoretical and experimental work and teaching at Harvard University, 1934-1941, under Emory L. Chaffee, Kenneth T. Bainbridge, John Van Vleck. World War II research on radar at MIT Radiation Laboratory, 1941-1946. Return to Harvard; teaching, nuclear magnetic resonance and 21-cm line research. Discusses government consulting work, 1950-1970, especially President's Science Advisory Committee, American Physical Society presidency; teaching at Harvard. Interests in astrophysics, developing physics curricula. Also prominently mentioned are: Kenneth Tompkins Bainbridge, Felix Bloch, Bobby Cutler, Robert Henry Dicke, Edwards, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Harold Ewen, Ferry, William Francis Giauque, William Webster Hansen, Malcolm Hebb, Ted Hunt, Lyndon B. Johnson, Fritz Leonhart, Dunlap McNair, Otto Oldenburg, Jan Hendrik Oort, Wolfgang Pauli, Robert V. Pound, Isidor Isaac Rabi, Norman Foster Ramsey, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Schnabel, Julian R. Schwinger, Francis Eugene Simon, Charles Steinmetz, Henry Torrey, Hendrik Christoffell van de Hulst, John Von Neumann, Isidor Walerstein, Walter Witzel, Hubert J. Yearian, Jerrold Reinach Zacharias; Bell System Technical Journal, Great Britain Royal Air Force Coastal Command, Radio Research Laboratory, Illinois Southeastern Telephone Co., Killian Committee, Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, National Academy of Sciences, Rijksuniversiteit te Leiden, Unitarian Church, United States Office of Naval Research, University of California at Berkeley, and Voice of America.

Interviewed by
Finn Aaserud
Interview date
Location
Yorktown Heights, New York
Abstract

Discussion of role as science advisor, mainly for JASON and the President's Science Advisory Committee (PSAC); the formation of JASON and PSAC; and work on other panels (governmental and non-governmental); relations with Congress; consultantships (AVCO and Convair). Family background, education; career at IBM (from 1952); Wallace Eckert; inventions (patents); publications.

Interviewed by
Finn Aaserud
Interview date
Location
Yorktown Heights, New York
Abstract

Discussion of role as science advisor, mainly for JASON and the President's Science Advisory Committee (PSAC); the formation of JASON and PSAC; and work on other panels (governmental and non-governmental); relations with Congress; consultantships (AVCO and Convair). Family background, education; career at IBM (from 1952); Wallace Eckert; inventions (patents); publications.

Interviewed by
Finn Aaserud
Interview date
Location
Garwin's office
Abstract

Discussion of role as science advisor, mainly for JASON and the President's Science Advisory Committee (PSAC); the formation of JASON and PSAC; and work on other panels (governmental and non-governmental); relations with Congress; consultantships (AVCO and Convair). Family background, education; career at IBM (from 1952); Wallace Eckert; inventions (patents); publications.

Interviewed by
Finn Aaserud
Interview date
Location
Pasadena, California
Abstract

Deals mainly with DuBridge's professional affiliations starting before World War II as member of National Research Council (NRC). War work at Massachusetts Institute of Technology Radiation Lab and relations with other groups, e.g., at the British Telecommunication Research Establishment (TRE). President of California Institute of Technology after Robert Millikan. Relationship with military. Establishment and chairmanship of President's Science Advisory Committee (PSAC); affiliations with PSAC and other organizations; PSAC's impact on science policy. Work with evolution and funding of Public Television, including James Killian's and Edward Land's roles. Also prominently mentioned are: Robert Andrews Millikan, Richard Milhouse Nixon; California Institute of Technology, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, National Research Council, National Science Board, National Science Foundation, Project Vista, United States Army Signal Corps, United States Army Atomic Energy Commission, and United States Office of Defense Mobilization.

Interviewed by
Finn Aaserud
Interview date
Abstract

Education and early professional experience; undergraduate studies at Princeton University; graduate studies at University of Illinois; Ph.D., 1949. Teaching at Stanford University and MIT during the 1950s. Involvement with JASON (Charles Townes) from 1960; JASON-PSAC relations; member of PSAC in 1966. Leaves Stanford for SLAC in 1963. Discussions of selection of members, projects in JASON; collaboration within, political views. Clearance levels and comparison of JASON research and academic physics. Impact of JASON on ABM and his role in ABM policy decisions; JASON's role in public policy making and its unique contributions. Describes the evolution of his career from JASON physicist to activist against SDI and Reagan's Star Wars initiative. Chairman of HEPAP; relationship with Andrei Sakharov. Research from 1960 to present.

Interviewed by
Finn Aaserud
Interview date
Location
La Jolla, California
Abstract

Undergraduate at Harvard University, Edward Purcell as influential teacher; graduate work at California Insitute of Technology, Ph.D. in 1964; move to Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, 1966. Most of interview concerns JASON: joined in 1966 at invitation of Murray Gell-Mann; projects for the Navy; work with Walter Munk; member of Steering Committee for four years; selection and types of projects; relationship with contractors.