Oral history interview with Richard Courant, 1962 May 9.

ArchivalResource

Oral history interview with Richard Courant, 1962 May 9.

Part of the Archives for the History of Quantum Physics oral history collection, 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: Harald Bohr, Niels Henrik David Bohr, Max Born, Peter Josef William Debye, Paul Sophus Epstein, Peter Paul Ewald, Werner Heisenberg, David Hilbert, Ernst Pascual Jordan, Theodore von Kármán, Lev Davidovich Landau, Hermann Minkowski, Walther Ritz, Carl Runge, Arnold Sommerfeld, Ferdinand Springer, Woldemar Voigt, John Von Neumann; Universität Breslau, and Universität Göttingen.

Transcript, 16 p.

Information

SNAC Resource ID: 6862691

Related Entities

There are 20 Entities related to this resource.

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...

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...

Minkowski, H. (Hermann), 1864-1909

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w67w6fff (person)

German mathematician (mathematical physics). Affiliations: University of Königsberg, Ph. D. 1885; University of Bonn, 1885-1894; University of Königsberg 1894-1896; ETH Zürich 1896-1902; University of Göttingen, o. professor 1902-1909. From the description of Papers. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 84584433 Minkowski was born on June 22, 1864 of German parents in Alexotas, Russia; was the joint winner of the Paris Academy of Sciences Grand Prix des Sciences Mathématiques...

Courant, Richard, 1888-1972

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

Von Kármán, Theodore, 1881-1963

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6j96759 (person)

Aeronautical engineer (aeronautics, physics, applied mathematics), science advisor, and first director of the Daniel Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory at Caltech. From the description of Papers, 1871-1963. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 81407179 Physicist. From the description of Reminiscences of Theodore Von Kármán : oral history, 1960. (Columbia University In the City of New York). WorldCat record id: 122632066 Aeronautical engineer, science advisor...

Runge, Carl, 1856-1927

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6f1921w (person)

Mathematician and physicist. Studied University of Munich, University of Berlin (Ph.D. 1880, Habil. 1883). Techn. Hochschule Hannover, professor 1886; University of Göttingen, professor 1904-1924. From the description of Papers. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 77663331 ...

Von Neumann, John, 1903-1957

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6v69kqh (person)

John (Johann) Louis von Neumann (1903-1957) was born in Budapest and showed early signs of being a child prodigy. He entered the University of Budapest in 1921, but also attended the University of Berlin and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology before obtaining a degree in chemical engineering in 1925. He earned his Doctorate in Mathematics from the University of Budapest in 1927. After graduation, he worked at the University of Berlin before becoming a visiting professor to Princeton from ...

Jordan, Pascual, 1902-1980

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w63r0v4g (person)

Studied in Göttingen, 1922-1924; Ph.D 1924, Göttingen; 1926-1928 Privatdozent, Göttingen, Hamburg; 1929-1944 Professor of theoretical physics, U. of Rostock; 1944 Professor, University of Berlin; 1947-1970, Professor University of Hamburg; 1957-1961, member of German Parliament. From the description of Papers. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 83770856 ...

Ewald, Paul Peter, 1888-1985

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6jd4x9n (person)

Physicist. Major affiliations include: Ludwig-Maximilians- Universität München, Munich, Germany, 1913-1921; Technische Hochschule Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany, 1921-1937; Queens College, Belfast, Northern Ireland, 1939-1949; and Polytechnic Institute, Brooklyn, N.Y. USA, 1949-1959. From the description of Letters to M. Born, [after 1933]. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 80601618 Physicist. Major affiliations: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany, 1913-...

Hilbert, David, 1862-1943

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6hd7xmh (person)

German mathematician and professor, who discovered or developed a broad range of fundamental ideas in many areas of mathematics, including invariant theory and the axiomatization of geometry. He also formulated the theory of "Hilbert spaces," one of the foundations of functional analysis. He is also one of the founders of proof theory. For many years, he held a position at the Mathematical Institute at the University of Göttingen. From the description of Vorlesungen über die Funkti...

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...

Kuhn, Thomas S.

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

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...

Landau, L. D. (Lev Davidovich), 1908-1968

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w65q4xkx (person)

Major affiliations include: Joffe, Acad. A. F., Institute of Physics and Technology, (Lenin), Leningrad, USSR, 1917-1932; University of Kharokov, Kharkov, USSR, 1932-1937; and Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Moscow, Russia, USSR, 1937-1967. From the description of Golden stock: list of quantum physics articles, 1933-1941, selected by Landau, [n.d.]. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 78435311 ...

Universität Breslau.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6vh9j9t (corporateBody)

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...

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...

Kac, Mark

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6765hc3 (person)

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...