Victor Frederick Weisskopf papers

  1. Resources
  2. View Resource

ArchivalResource

Victor Frederick Weisskopf papers

1922-2002

https://archivesspace.mit.edu/repositories/2/resources/1063

Victor Frederick Weisskopf's papers include correspondence, meeting agendas, minutes, reports, papers, newspaper clippings, audio tapes and cassettes, films, research notes and calculations, draft manuscripts, lecture and reading notes, and photographs and slides. The papers document Weisskopf's professional and personal life from the 1920s through 2002. The bulk of the collection dates from the 1960s through the early 1990s, reflecting his role as a physicist, educator, administrator, and advocate of social and political causes. While his activities before the 1960s are less fully represented, the collection includes materials from his early scientific career that provide insights into his educational background and research interests and projects. His professional collaborations and personal contacts with major people in the field of quantum physics are also documented. An extensive set of records documents Weisskopf's relationship with CERN, mainly from the period when he served as a member of the CERN Scientific Policy Committee (1966-1977). His role as the chair of the High Energy Physics Advisory Panel HEPAP - (1967-1973) is also well covered in the collection. There are no original materials related to Weisskopf's work at Los Alamos on the Manhattan Project. Most of the records pertaining to his administrative activities as chairman of MIT's physics department and the head of the Center for Theoretical Physics are not included here, as most of them remained with the department. His active engagement in major scientific, social, and political issues is documented mainly in materials gathered in Series 6 (Organizations and Conferences) and Series 10 (Policy, Science, and Education Working Files). Extensive sets of records, included in Series 9 (Research Working Files) and Series 11 (Writings and Presentations), pertain to his research activities and interests as they evolved over a time span of more than seventy years. (cont.) The collection documents the professional life and career of Victor Frederick Weisskopf (1908-2002) from the 1920s through 2002. Educated in Europe in the 1920s and 1930s, Weisskopf made important contributions to the quantum theory of radiative transitions, the self-energy of electrons, the electrodynamic properties of the vacuum, and the theory of nuclear reactions. In 1943, several years after his move to the United States, Weisskopf was invited to join the Manhattan Project, where he served as deputy chairman of the theoretical division. He was a member of the faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the Department of Physics starting in 1945, Institute Professor from 1965, and Institute Professor Emeritus from 1974. In addition to his research and teaching activities, Weisskopf played a major role in shaping the development of high-energy particle physics in the US and in Europe, serving as director general of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) between 1961 and 1965 and chair of the High Energy Physics Advisory Panel (HEPAP) from 1967 through 1973. Throughout his life he was involved in activities of many professional organizations including the Federation of Atomic Scientists, Pugwash Conferences, American Physical Society, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Pontifical Academy of Science. The bulk of the collection dates from the 1960s through the 1990s, reflecting Weisskopf's role as a physicist, educator, administrator, scientific statesman, and advocate of social and political causes.

60.0 cubic feet in 8 record cartons, 146 manuscript boxes, 6 half manuscript boxes, 3 flat boxes, 1 phonograph record box.

ger,

dan,

fre,

ita,

chi,

spa,

eng,

rus,

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Libraries

Information

SNAC Resource ID: 7336553

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Libraries

Related Entities

There are 11 Entities related to this resource.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6kt7h5g (corporateBody)

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6sv8d0k (corporateBody)

The Department of General Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) did not officially exist until 1882. Courses in general studies were offered as early as 1865, when the MIT Catalog offered a curriculum option called the Course in Science and Literature. At that time, all regular MIT students were required to take “general studies” classes from the Course in Science and Literature, in addition to English, history, and modern languages. In 1882 the Course in Scienc...

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...

Union of Concerned Scientists

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w63c15j5 (corporateBody)

Pauli, Wolfgang, 1900-1958

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w60v8f9w (person)

Pysicists (theoretical, atomic, and nuclear physics). On the physics faculty at Kobenhavns Universitet (1922-1923); Universität Hamburg (1923-1928); and Eidgenössische Ttechnische Hochschule Zürich (1928-1958); and visiting professor, Institute for Advanced Study (1935-1936, and from 1940). From the description of Letters. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 83030815 Physicist (theoretical, atomic, and nuclear physics). On the physics faculty at Kobenhavns Universitet, 1922-19...

United States. High Energy Physics Advisory Panel

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6s23jxh (corporateBody)

HEPAP was founded in 1967 to make recommendations on the national interests of the high-energy-physics research program. Although set up by the Atomic Energy Commission, National Science Foundation (NSF) officials frequently attend meetings and solicit recommendations on their program, especially when NSF receives proposals that potentially affect the overall national effort in high-energy physics. From the description of Minutes, 1967-1991. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 82798830 ...

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...

Pontificia Accademia delle scienze.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6z94w1b (corporateBody)

International Union of Pure and Applied Physics.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6dn87kn (corporateBody)

European Organization for Nuclear Research

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6kq1xzf (corporateBody)

The European Organization for Nuclear Research/Organisation europénne pour la recherche nucléaire, widely known as CERN, was established in Geneva, Switzerland in 1954 to coordinate and perform research on fundamental particles. The member states are Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, West Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. From the description of Records, 1952-1987. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 80830917 From the ...

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Theoretical Physics.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6jt56z0 (corporateBody)