Oral history interview with Harvey Tananbaum, 2002 June 24, 26.

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Oral history interview with Harvey Tananbaum, 2002 June 24, 26.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/80633239

A biographical interview; Tananbaum was director of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory's Chandra X-Ray Observatory at the time of interview. Discusses his childhood and education including time at Yale and MIT; initial forays into X-ray astronomy; anecdotes about Riccardo Giacconi and launch of Uhuru Satellite in 1970; discovery of first black hole in Cygnus S-1 and confirmation of binary accretion model as source for x-rays. Transition of AS&E staff to Center for Astrophysics; building of High Energy Astrophysics division at CFA; Tananbaum's research interests; CHAMP project with Chandra. Discussion of building Chandra as well as comparison of Chandra project with Hubble telescope. The politics and finding for Chandra; its operation. HEAO-B (Einstein) mission covered including its precursors, detector technologies, and science contributions. Tananbaum's time on various NASA committees and the creation of a long-term strategy for space astronomy mentioning Chandra, Hubble, SIRTF, and NGST. Discussion of important topics in astronomy research including the merging of physics and astronomy in some areas. Committee contributions including decadal survey work. Thoughts on religion, family, values and personal meaning. Most significant changes in his career including personal rewards.

Sound recording: 6 audio cassettes.Transcript: 114 pp.

American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library

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SNAC Resource ID: 8248710

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