Oral history interview with John Robert Schrieffer, 1974 September 26 and 1976 January 19.

  1. Resources
  2. View Resource

ArchivalResource

Oral history interview with John Robert Schrieffer, 1974 September 26 and 1976 January 19.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/79891395

Childhood and high school education; undergraduate eduction at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Bachelor's thesis with John Slater on energy level spacings in the multiple structure of transition metal atoms; graduate education at Urbana, Illinois, first paper under John Bardeen on the problem of transport of electrons bound to surfaces in semiconductors (Bardeen, David Pines); doctoral thesis on superconductivity, theoretical issues relevant to it; Leon Cooper's contributions, field theory, the bound state; Bardeen wins the Nobel Prize, emotional letdowns related to slow results of research; Stevens Conference on the many-body problem and American Physical Society Meeting, 1957; application of the Tomonaga variational technique, work on it with Cooper and Bardeen, problems with the second order phase transition, Bardeen's solution of the wave function; refinements of the new theory of superconductivity; feelings about working with Bardeen and Cooper; reactions of the scientific community to the new theory (Niels Bohr, Norman Ramsey); views on scientific creativity; the square dance analogy of the B-C-S theory; the Nobel Prize, 1972; American and Soviet competition for solution of superconductivity; objections to the theory based on gauge invariance properties; aftermath of discovery and Nobel Prize. Also prominently mentioned are: Jane Bardeen, John Bardeen, Nikolay N. Bogoliubov, Bohr family, Keith Allan Brueckner, Eli Burstein, Butler, Leon Cooper, Richard Phillips Feynman, Dave Frisch, Frölich, Ernest Guillemin, Douglas Rayner Hartree, Werner Heisenberg, David Hilbert, George F. Koster, Fritz London, Francis Eugene Low, Arkadii Beinusovich Migdal, David Pines, Léon Rosenfeld, Blat Schatloff, Ann Schrieffer, Frederick Seitz, Charles Slichter, Gregor Wentzel; Institute for Theoretical Physics (Copenhagen), and Niels Bohr Institutet.

Sound recordings: 4 5-inch sound reels, 2 sound cassette, 2 sessions.Transcript: 80 p.

American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library

Information

SNAC Resource ID: 8237454

Related Entities

There are 20 Entities related to this resource.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w67n11r6 (corporateBody)

The Niels Bohr Library is part of the Center for History of Physics of the American Institute of Physics. Its primary mission is to preserve and make known the history of modern physics and allied sciences. The photograph collection is named in honor of Emilio Segrè, best known for his Nobel Prize-winning work in nuclear and high-energy physics, but also an avid photographer and author of books on the history of modern physics. From the description of The Emilio Segrè visual archiv...

Feynman, Richard P. (Richard Phillips), 1918-1988

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6mx38zq (person)

Physicist Richard Feynman won his scientific renown through the development of quantum electrodynamics, or QED, a theory describing the interaction of particles and atoms in radiation fields. As a part of this work he invented what came to be known as "Feynman Diagrams," visual representations of space-time particle interactions. For this work he was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics, together with J. Schwinger and S. I. Tomonaga, in 1965. Later in his life Feynman became a prominent public fig...

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...

Frisch, David H

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6tx53rk (person)

Seitz, Frederick, 1911-2008

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w61v5g81 (person)

Physicist. On the physics faculty at University of Rochester, 1935-1937; research physicist, General Electric Company, 1937-1939; on the physics faculty at University of Pennsylvania, 1939-1942; Carnegie Institute of Technology, 1942-1949; and University of Illinois, 1949-1965; president, National Academy of Sciences, 1962-1969; president, Rockefeller University, 1968-1978. From the description of Summary of 1987 conference: The Origins of Solid State Physics in Italy: 1945-1960, 198...

Slater, John C. (John Clarke), 1900-1976

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6gm88vx (person)

John Clarke Slater was a physicist. He graduated from Harvard (Ph. D. 1923) and continued his studies at Cambridge University. He also studied in Copenhagen for six months under Niels Bohr, with whom Slater worked again in 1929 on the quantum theory. He returned to the United States in 1930 to become head of the department of physics at M.I.T., where he worked with Karl Compton to transform the study of physics there. From the description of Papers, 1908-1976. (American Philosophical...

London, Fritz, 1900-1954

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6n01s2h (person)

Physicist. Major affiliations include: Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany, 1928-1933; University of Oxford, England, 1933-1936; and Duke University, Durham, NC, 1939. From the description of Letters to Paul Zilsel concerning low temperature conferences and work in which both were engaged, 1947-1953. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 79617781 Fritz London, physicist and theoretical chemist, formulated the London equations of superconductivity with his brother, Heinz London. Af...

Hartree, Douglas R.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w60p2p50 (person)

Low, Francis E. (Francis Eugene), 1921-2007

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6rx9f2n (person)

Rosenfeld, L. (Leon), 1904-1974

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6q81f8f (person)

Williams, Robert Moore

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w64479hj (person)

Bardeen, John

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6q241bf (person)

Physicist. From the description of Reminiscences of John Bardeen : oral history, 1963. (Columbia University In the City of New York). WorldCat record id: 122586692 John Bardeen (1908-1991). Physicist (solid state). Research physicist, Bell Telephone Laboratories, 1945-1951; Professor of Physics, University of Illinois, Urbana, from 1951. Nobel Prize in Physics, 1956 and 1972. From the description of Superconductivity and other macroscopic quantum systems [videore...

Fröhlich, H. (Herbert), 1905-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6z903j1 (person)

Pines, David, 1924-....

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6sj1npp (person)

Ramsey, Norman, 1915-2011

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6fr000f (person)

Physicist. From the description of Reminiscences of Norman Ramsey : oral history, 1960. (Columbia University In the City of New York). WorldCat record id: 309723266 Physicist. Higgins professor of physics, Harvard University, from 1966. From the description of Materials on the history of magnetic resonance. 1983-1995. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 79200209 ...

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...

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...

American physical society

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6pg5mr2 (corporateBody)

This professional society of educators, industrial and government research workers, and students of physics and related fields, was established in 1899 to promote the advancement and diffusion of the knowledge of physics. It was a founding Member Society of the American Institute of Physics. The Directed Energy Weapons (DEW) Study was commissioned by the American Physical Society on November 20, 1983 to evaluate the status of the science and technology of DEW. A study group was formed by Novembe...

Warnow-Blewett, Joan

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w64j0jdk (person)

Schrieffer, J.R. (John Robert), 1931-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6k08tfw (person)