Oral history joint interview with James Franck and Hertha Sponer-Franck, 1962 July 9 to 14.

ArchivalResource

Oral history joint interview with James Franck and Hertha Sponer-Franck, 1962 July 9 to 14.

This joint interview with James Franck and Hertha Sponer-Franck was conducted as part of the Archives for the History of Quantum Physics project, which includes tapes and transcripts of oral history interviews conducted with ca. 100 atomic and quantum physicists. Subjects discuss their family backgrounds, how they became interested in physics, their educations, people who influenced them, their careers including social influences on the conditions of research, and the state of atomic, nuclear, and quantum physics during the period in which they worked. Discussions of scientific matters relate to work that was done between approximately 1900 and 1930, with an emphasis on the discovery and interpretations of quantum mechanics in the 1920s. Also prominently mentioned are: Mrs. Bauer, Richard Becker, Raymond Thayer Birge, Max Bodenstein, Niels Henrik David Bohr, Max Born, Ode Clausius, Edward Condon, Dirk Coster, Richard Courant, Clinton Joseph Davisson, Peter Josef William Debye, Paul Drude, Dymond, Tatiana Ehrenfest, Paul Ehrenfest, Albert Einstein, Walter M. Elsasser, Paul Sophus Epstein, Enrico Fermi, Emil Fischer, Franck James, Walther Gerlach, Ladislas Goldstein, Fritz Haber, George Ellery Hale, Wilhelm Hanle, Werner Heisenberg, Herneck, Gustav Ludwig Hertz, David Hilbert, Johan Holtsmark, Hueckel, Christopher Ingold, Ernst Pascual Jordan, Martin Kamen, Felix Klein, Kunsman, Ferdinand Kurlbaum, Irving Langmuir, Max. Theodor Felix von Laue, Philipp Lenard, Gilbert Newton Lewis, Frederick Lindemann, James Clerk Maxwell, Joseph Mayer, Lise Meitner, Robert Andrews Millikan, Rudolph Leo Bernhard Minkowski, Walther Nernst, Mrs. Nordheim, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Friedrich Paschen, Linus Pauling, Max Planck, Robert Wichard Pohl, Georg Quincke, Fritz Reiche, Heinrich Rubens, Carl Runge, H. Seeliger, Emilio Gino Segrè, Arnold Sommerfeld, Johannes Stark, Otto Stern, John T. Tate, Edward Teller, Woldemar Voigt, Otto Warburg, Victor Frederick Weisskopf, Wilhelm Westphal, Wilhelm Wien, Windaus, Robert Williams Wood; Berlin Colloquium in Physics, Berliner Physikalische Gesellschaft, Physikalische-Technische Reichsanstalt (Berlin), University of California at Berkeley, Universität Berlin, Universität Giessen, Universität Göttingen, and Universität Heidelberg.

Transcript, 115 p.

Information

SNAC Resource ID: 8236075

Related Entities

There are 44 Entities related to this resource.

Oppenheimer, J. Robert, 1904-1967

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6xb349g (person)

J. Robert Oppenheimer: Physicist (quantum theory and nuclear physics). On the physics faculty at California Institute of Technology and University of California, Berkeley in theoretical physics, 1929-1947; director of Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, 1943-1945; chairman of the General Advisory Committee of the Atomic Energy Commission, 1946-1952; director of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, 1947-1966....

Franck, James, 1882-1964

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w65f9j9x (person)

James Franck was born August 26, 1882 in Hamburg, Germany, where his Sephardic Jewish forebears had lived for over two hundred years [Box 20, folder 58 and Box 21, folder 1]. His father, Jacob Franck, was a banker who wanted his son to follow a business career in keeping with family tradition. From childhood on, however, James could imagine no other life but science. An X-ray photograph illustrates his fascination with new discoveries in physics. He had already read of Roentgen's X...

Universität Göttingen.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6gr7pq3 (corporateBody)

Bohr, Niels, 1885-1962

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6t836n5 (person)

Niels Bohr was a Danish physicist who made tremendous contributions to his field, transforming accepted notions of atomic structure, helping to develop nuclear fission, and advocating for international cooperation in crafting responsible nuclear policy. Bohr was born in Copenhagen in 1885 into a family that encouraged his academic pursuits. Christian Bohr, his father, was professor of physiology at the University of Copenhagen. Bohr credited his father for awakening hi...

University of California (1868-1952)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6m940p0 (corporateBody)

Administrative History During the mid-twentieth century, the American Labor Movement reached a pinnacle of power and influence within society. The Second World War required that labor be managed as a strategic resource; the high productivity of workers during the war carried over in the peace time economy, which experienced a sustained economic "boom." Unlike European labor relations, where unions play an "official" role in government, the Am...

Debye, Peter J. W. (Peter Josef William), 1884-1966

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6ms3tzz (person)

Physical chemist (molecular structure, quantum theory, magnetism, polymers). On the physics faculty at Georg-August Universität zu Göttingen, 1913-1920; on the staff at Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule, Zurich, 1910-1927; on the faculty at Universität Leipzig, 1927-1934; director, Kaiser-Wilhelm Institut für Physik, 1935-1939; and professor and chair of the chemistry department, Cornell University from 1940. Died 1966. From the description of Holograph student notes, 1901, a...

Tate, John T. (John Torrence), 1889-1950

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6ft8qpt (person)

Wood, Robert Williams, 1868-1955

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6hh6mqs (person)

Physicist (optics, metals). On physics faculty at University of Wisconsin, 1897-1900; and Johns Hopkins University from 1901. From the description of Papers, 1838-1942. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 77766866 Physicist (optics, metals). On the physics faculty at University of Wisconsin (1897-1900), and Johns Hopkins University from 1901. From the description of Letters to A. H. Raynolds, 1925-1927. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122575306 Ro...

Cherwell, Frederick Alexander Lindemann, Viscount, 1886-1957

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w66d5vj7 (person)

Courant, Richard, 1888-1972

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6ff3tmg (person)

Sommerfeld, Arnold, 1868-1951

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6dn466s (person)

Physicist (mathematical physics, atomic physics, theoretical physics, wave mechanics, quantum mechanics). On the mineralogy faculty at Georg-August Universität zu Göttingen (1893-1897); on the mathematics faculty at Technische Universität Clausthal (1897-1900); on the mechanics faculty at the Technische Hochschule zu Aachen (1900-1906); and on the physics faculty at Universität München from 1906. From the description of Papers, ("New" Sommerfeld Nachlass), ca. 1890-ca. 1950. (Un...

Heisenberg, Werner, 1901-1976

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6j967hs (person)

Physicist (quantum theory, quantum mechanics, uncertainty principle, unified field theory) and administrator. On the physic faculty at Universität Göttingen (1923-1924, 1925-1926); Kovenhavens Universitet (1924-1925, 1926-1927); Universität Leipzig (1927-1941); director, Kaiser-Wilhelm Institut für Physik (1941-1945); director, Max-Planck Institut für Physik (1946-1958); and director, Max-Planck Institut für Physik und Astrophysik (1958-1970). From the description of Papers. (U...

Lewis, Gilbert Newton, 1875-1946

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6bg2s01 (person)

UC chemist. From the description of Gilbert Newton Lewis papers, 1904-1946. (University of California, Berkeley). WorldCat record id: 84653263 ...

Segrè, Emilio

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w65t3mqn (person)

Emilio Gino Segrè (1905-1989). From the description of Oral history interview with Emilio Gino Segrè, 1967 February 13. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 80714573 Educator, physicist; interviewee b.1905. From the description of Reminiscences of Emilio Segr'e : oral history, 1964. (Columbia University In the City of New York). WorldCat record id: 122527163 Emilio Gino Segrè is a nuclear physicist and discovered slow neutrons; the elements technetium, asta...

Hertz, Gustav, 1887-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w64m98ft (person)

Gustav Ludwig Hertz (1887-1975). From the description of Oral history interview with Gustav Ludwig Hertz, 1963 May 14 and 15. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 81511415 ...

Stark, Johannes, 1874-1957

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6xw6g6x (person)

Born, Max, 1882-1970

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w61v5g64 (person)

Physicist (solid state physics, quantum mechanics, lattice dynamics, wave functions, molecules). On the physics faculty at Universität Göttingen (1908-1914, 1921-1933); Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Berlin (1914-1919); and University of Edinburgh (1936-1956). From the description of Lecture notebooks, 1905-1937. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 79287462 From the description of Papers, ca. 1945-1970. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 77749891 From the description of P...

Millikan, Robert Andrews, 1868-1953

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6pk0hdg (person)

Physicist (photoelectricity, ions) and educator. On the physics faculty at the University of Chicago, 1896-1921; on the faculty at California Institute of Technology: director, Norman Bridge Laboratory of Physics and chairman of the Executive Council, 1921-1946, emeritus professor of physics and chairman of the Board of Trustees from 1946; Nobel Prize in physics, 1923. From the description of Papers [microform], 1847-1953. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 77594601 Millikan was...

Fermi, Enrico, 1901-1954

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6736s35 (person)

Enrico Fermi was a physicist. From the description of Letters, 1918-1926, to Enrico Perisco. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 173466015 From the guide to the Enrico Fermi letters, 1918-1926, to Enrico Perisco, 1918-1926, (American Philosophical Society) Physicist. From the description of Papers of Enrico Fermi, 1919-1954. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 71068165 Physicist (slow neutrons, artificial radioactivity, beta-ray emission, statistical mode...

Universität Heidelberg.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6cs41p2 (corporateBody)

Reiche, F. (Fritz), 1883-1969

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6hb2n9k (person)

Fritz Reiche was born on July 4, 1883 in Berlin, Germany. He attended the University of Munich from 1901 to 1902 and the University of Berlin from 1902 to 1907. He received his Ph.D. in 1907 after studying with Max Planck. Between 1908 and 1911 Reiche was working at the University of Breslau and from 1911 to 1913 he was at the University of Berlin. In 1913 till 1921 Reiche was an instructor of theoretical physics at the University of Berlin. Also during this period he was an assista...

Universität Berlin.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w68q46n2 (corporateBody)

Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt (Germany)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6mh1w5z (corporateBody)

The Physikalisch-Technische Reichanstalt, founded 1887, was the leading state-run metrological institute, with achievement not only in metrology, but also in physics. Today it is called the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt. From the description of Records of the Federal Institute of Metrology (Germany), 1887-[ongoing]. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 81803343 As a non-teaching establishment with a staff engaged in full-time research, using expensive equipment and facilit...

Nernst, Walther, 1864-1941

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w65b03gb (person)

Physicist. Major affiliations inclulde: Georg-August Universität zu Göttingen, Gottingen, Germany, 1891-1905; Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt, Berlin, 1922-1924; and Universität Berlin, 1925-1933. From the description of Thermodynamische Behandlung einiger des Wassers, Teil 1: scientific notes, 1909. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 81474006 ...

Teller, Edward, 1908-2003

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w62v2hcz (person)

15 January 1908 Born, Budapest, Hungary 1926 1928 Student, Karlsruhe Technical Institute, Karlsruhe, Germany 1928 Student, University of Munich, Germany 1929 1931 Research associate, University of Leipzig, Germany 1930 Ph.D., University of Leipzig 1931 1933 Research associate, Guttingen, Germany 1934 Married Augusta (Mici) Harkanyi ...

Birge, Raymond T. (Raymond Thayer), b. 1887.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w61c1z54 (person)

Physicist (spectroscopy, statistics). On the physics faculty at Syracuse University, 1913-1918; University of California at Berkeley from 1918, department chair, 1933-1955; chairman of committee on physical constants, National Research Council, 1930-1937. From the description of Lectures by Niels Bohr and by R. T. Birge, 1922-1969. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 79125366 From the description of Comments on A. A. Michelson, 1962. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 82481619 ...

Ehrenfest, Paul, 1880-1933

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6fn18ht (person)

Nuclear physicist (statistical mechanics, applied quantum physics). On the physics faculty at Universität Wein (1900-1904); on the staff of Petrogradskii politeknicheskii (1907-1912); and on the physics faculty at Rijksuniversiteit te Leiden (1912-1933). From the description of Papers, 1902-1933. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 79973171 ...

Universität Giessen.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6fz5hvt (corporateBody)

Laue, Max ˜vonœ 1879-1960

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6b27z19 (person)

Major affiliations include: Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany, 1905-1909, 1919-1943; Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany, 1909-1912; Universität Frankfurt-am-Main (later Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Universität Frankfurt), Frankkfurt-am-Main, Germany, 1914-1919; Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Berlin, Germany, 1951-1960. From the description of Papers. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122521272 Physicist. Major affi...

Stern, Otto, 1888-1969

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6q52szw (person)

Otto Stern was born in Germany, on February 17, 1888. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Breslau in 1912. In 1930 he was awarded an LL.D. by the University of California. In 1933 he moved to the United States where he was appointed a Research Professor of Physics at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pittsburgh where he remained until 1945. His work was in the field of theoretical experimental physics, especially statistical thermodynamics and quantum theory, on which he has publish...

Mayer, Maria Goeppert, 1906-1972

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w60p11z2 (person)

Maria Goeppert Mayer was born on June 28, 1906 in Kattowitz, Germany, to Friedrich and Maria (nee Wolff) Goeppert. In 1910 she moved with her parents to Gottingen where her father taught pediatrics at the University. She enrolled at the University at Gottingen in the spring of 1924 with the expectation of pursuing a career in mathematics, but soon became attracted to physics and the developing field of quantum mechanics. In 1930 Mayer took her doctorate in theoretical physics under t...

Davisson, Clinton Joseph, 1881-1958

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6fj3jkr (person)

Physicist. From the description of Clinton Joseph Davisson papers, 1908-1962 (bulk 1937-1946). (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 79450630 Physicist (electron optics). From the description of Letters from J. J. Thomson, 1913, and letter to son, James W. Davisson, concerning Davisson's visit to Cavendish Laboratory, his marriage and family life, 1913-1957. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 77849727 Biographical Note ...

Kuhn, Thomas S.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6sx6g8x (person)

Weisskopf, Victor Frederick, 1908-2002

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6tm7cd2 (person)

Victor F. Weisskopf, Ph.D., University of Gottingen, Germany, 1931, was professor of Physics at MIT from 1946 until his retirement in 1974. He was director general of the European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland, from 1961 to 1965. Weisskopf's research focus was theoretical work in quantum electrodynamics and nuclear particle physics. Other major affiliations include: University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA, 1937-1943; Los Alamos, NM, USA, 1943-1947. Fro...

Pauling, Linus, 1901-1994

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6zk5j54 (person)

Born in Portland, Oregon on 28 February 1901. Died on 19 August 1994. Education: B.S., Chemical Engineering, Oregon State College (1922), Ph.D., Physical Chemistry and Mathematical Physics, California Institute of Technology (1925). Employment: 1925-1926 National Research Council; 1926-1927 Universities of Münich, Zürich, and Copenhagen; 1922-1969 California Institute of Technology; 1969- Stanford University; 1973-1979 Linus Pauling Institute of Science and Medicine. From the descr...

Mayer, Joseph Edward, 1904-....

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6q253r1 (person)

Died 1983. From the description of Oral history interview with Joseph Edward Mayer, 1975 January 24. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 79322266 Biography The son of a bridge engineer, Joseph Edward Mayer was born on February 5, 1904 in New York City. His family later moved to Canada and then to California, where Mayer graduated from Hollywood High School. In 1924 he received a B.S. in chemistry from the California Institute ...

Epstein, Paul S. (Paul Sophus), 1883-1966

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6fr001w (person)

Physicist, California Institute of Technology, 1921-1953; taught the advanced courses in mathematical and theoretical physics. First European-trained physicist to come to Caltech on a permanent basis; recruited by Robert A. Millikan in 1921, a mathematical physicist among the generation who laid foundation for modern atomic physics. Studied in Munich under Arnold Sommerfeld; early research in theory of electromagnetic waves, particularly theory of their diffraction. Studied quantum theory of ato...

Planck, Max, 1858-1947

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w64m961m (person)

Physicist Max Planck authored the quantum theory. From the guide to the Max Planck correspondence, 1919-1948, 1919-1948, (American Philosophical Society) German physicist. From the description of Autograph letter signed : Berlin-Grunewald, to Artur Neuberg, 1939 Nov. 10. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 270872119 Max Planck was a physicist and the author of the quantum theory. Received Nobel prize in Physics (1918). Involvement with the Kaiser-Wilhelm Soci...

Meitner, Lise, 1878-1968

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6zg6v56 (person)

Lise Meitner was born in Austria on 7 November 1878, the daughter of the Viennese lawyer, Phillip Meitner. In 1901 she entered the University of Vienna, becoming Doctor of Philosophy in 1906. In the following year Meitner left Austria and went to Berlin [Germany] to study with the physicist Max Planck, becoming joint discoverer of Thorium-C in 1908. In 1912 Meitner moved on to work with Otto Hahn at the Chemical Institute, Kaiser Wilhelm Gesellschaft, in Göttingen. During the First World War ...

Maxwell, James Clerk, 1831-1879

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w68k7dpr (person)

Physicist (mathematical physics, electricity, and magnetism) and mathematician. Chair, natural philosophy, Marischal College, Aberdeen, Scotland (1856-1860); professor of physics and astronomy, King's College, London (1860-1865); and professor of experimental physics, Cambridge University (1871-1879). From the description of Papers, 1845-1879. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 79980550 From the description of Papers, 1847-1879. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 83949050 P...

Hale, George Ellery, 1868-1938

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w69p32w4 (person)

George Ellery Hale was an astrophysicist. He was the organizer and director of the Mount Wilson Observatory of the Carnegie Institute of Washington, 1904-1923, and was honorary director until his death in 1938. His principal scientific researches were made in stellar spectroscopy. From the description of Papers, 1903-1935. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 82798019 From the description of Papers, 1882-1937. (American Philosophical Society Library). WorldCat record id: 122523501...

Condon, Edward Uhler, 1902-1974

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6dn46p2 (person)

Physicist. Major affiliations include: Princeton University, 1930-1937; Westinghouse Co., Pittsburgh, PA, 1937-1945; National Bureau of Standards, Washington, DC, 1945-1951; Washington University, St. Louis, MO, 1956-1963; and Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics, Boulder, CO from 1963. From the description of Public relations file on Condon, mostly pertaining to the attack on his loyalty by the House Committee on Un-American Activities, 1948-1974. (Unknown). WorldCat record i...

Einstein, Albert, 1879-1955

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w63c6p77 (person)

Albert Einstein was born at Ulm, in Württemberg, Germany, on March 14, 1879. Six weeks later the family moved to Munich, where he later on began his schooling at the Luitpold Gymnasium. Later, they moved to Italy and Albert continued his education at Aarau, Switzerland and in 1896 he entered the Swiss Federal Polytechnic School in Zurich to be trained as a teacher in physics and mathematics. In 1901, the year he gained his diploma, he acquired Swiss citizenship and, as he was...

Voigt, Woldemar, 1850-1919

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6g162ff (person)

German physicist and professor. Major affiliations: Universität Königsberg, Konigsberg, Germany 1875-1883; Georg-August Universität Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany, 1883-1919. Research in crystallography, thermodynamics, magneto-optics, and electronics. From the description of Letters to various scientists, 1875-1919. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 79617758 German physicist and progessor. Major affiliations: Universität Königsberg, Konigsberg, Germany 1875-1883; Georg-A...