Physics -- International cooperation

Interviewed by
Tanya Levin
Interview date
Location
Hanover, Germany
Abstract

Topics include his childhood and early education; World War II experiences; decision to take up geology; availability of Western publications at Humboldt University; fixism and alternative ideas to plate tectonics; the International Geophysical Year and East German participation; National Oil company job; accused of being a Western spy; escape to West Germany and refuge camp experience; his work with the German Geological Survey; research on the North Sea; Indian Ocean Expedition and its importance to German marine science; trip to U.S. to meet American colleagues; differences between German and US marine sciences; recollections of Maurice Ewing; comparison of Scripps, Lamont, Woods Hole; participation on Atlantic Panel; MOHOLE Project; Joint Institute Deep Earth Sampling Program; German science policy; international cooperation in science; work on the Argentine volcanic margins; cooperation with Russian researchers; government scientific advising.

Interviewed by
Thomas M. Miller
Interview date
Location
University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma
Abstract

In this interview with Robert Crompton, he discusses the Gaseous Electronics Conference (GEC), which he first attended in 1963. He reviews the meetings and how he happened to be at them and what has brought other Australians nowadays. Crompton mentioned Art Phelps, Leonard Loeb, Sir Leonard Huxley, Bob St. John, Phyllis St. John, Helen Crompton, Michael Morrison, David Golden, Dick Fowler, Syd Haydon, Mary Morrison, Steve Buckman, Mike Brunger, Frank Read, J. S. Townsend, Frank Llewellyn-Jones, Charlotte Loeb, Valery Loeb, Rob Varney, Leon Fisher, Felix Smith, Ed Gerjuoy, Ben Bederson, and Chun Lin.

Interviewed by
R. S. Marvin
Interview date
Location
Chicago, Illinois
Abstract

A chat between two old friends covering the years 1932 (when Dillon became member of the Society of Rheology) to 1959 and Dillon's presidency of the Society. Eugene Bingham founder of Society, an industrial/and academic mixture; initial interest in diversity of materials; Polymers Society gets support from Chemical Foundation after 1940; the Mooney viscometer, viscosity versus plasticity (the creep curve; papers published in Journal of Applied Physics and from 1953 with separate rheology issues. Comments on international exchanges and involvement; British Rheologist Club. Also prominently mentioned is: A. Stuart Hunter.

Interviewed by
Henry Barton and W. J. King
Interview date
Location
American Institute of Physics
Abstract

Studies in Europe, 1912; graduate study under Robert A. Millikan at University of Chicago; employment with Western Electric Co. and Bell Labs, 1917-1956; brief time doing experimental work on the "carbon microphone" and long distance sound detectors; review articles on contemporary advances in physics, 1920s-1930s; description of early meetings of American Physical Society (APS); 1933 visit to European centers for physical research; work on the relationship between commercial and basic research in physics. Organization and growth of APS, his terms as Secretary, 1941-1956, during which he introduced "invited papers" to major meetings; problems within APS and within the area of physics in general; his role in fostering international cooperation in physics. Outside interests. Also prominently mentioned are: Hans Albrecht Bethe, William Lawrence Bragg, Percy Williams Bridgman, J. J. Carty, Arthur Holly Compton, Clinton Joseph Davisson, Arthur Jeffrey Dempster, Enrico Fermi, James Brown Fisk, Harvey Fletcher, James Franck, Lester Halbert Germer, H. E. Ives, Frank Jewett, Arthur Lunn, Albert Abraham Michelson, George Braxton Pegram, Isidor Isaac Rabi, Frances Orr Severinghaus, William Francis Gray Swann, John Hasbrouck Van Vleck, Harold Worthington Webb; American Institute of Physics, United States National Bureau of Standards, and University of Chicago.

Interviewed by
Henry Barton and W. J. King
Interview date
Location
American Institute of Physics
Abstract

Studies in Europe, 1912; graduate study under Robert A. Millikan at University of Chicago; employment with Western Electric Co. and Bell Labs, 1917-1956; brief time doing experimental work on the "carbon microphone" and long distance sound detectors; review articles on contemporary advances in physics, 1920s-1930s; description of early meetings of American Physical Society (APS); 1933 visit to European centers for physical research; work on the relationship between commercial and basic research in physics. Organization and growth of APS, his terms as Secretary, 1941-1956, during which he introduced "invited papers" to major meetings; problems within APS and within the area of physics in general; his role in fostering international cooperation in physics. Outside interests. Also prominently mentioned are: Hans Albrecht Bethe, William Lawrence Bragg, Percy Williams Bridgman, J. J. Carty, Arthur Holly Compton, Clinton Joseph Davisson, Arthur Jeffrey Dempster, Enrico Fermi, James Brown Fisk, Harvey Fletcher, James Franck, Lester Halbert Germer, H. E. Ives, Frank Jewett, Arthur Lunn, Albert Abraham Michelson, George Braxton Pegram, Isidor Isaac Rabi, Frances Orr Severinghaus, William Francis Gray Swann, John Hasbrouck Van Vleck, Harold Worthington Webb; American Institute of Physics, United States National Bureau of Standards, and University of Chicago.

Interviewed by
Charles Weiner
Interview date
Location
Tisvilde, Denmark
Abstract

Carlsberg Breweries income creates the Carlsberg Foundation; Johannes Pedersen chairman for the five member board; meetings on progress and smaller/larger grants to museums and to individuals; limits to size of grants; grant procedures. The establishment of Bohr’s institute (to reestablish international scientific collaboration); relationship between Harald & Niels Bohr and Martin Knudsen (their views on German inclusion in international scientific unions); United States visits 1923, 1933; life at Bohr’s institute and life at Carlsberg.