Oral history interview with Cyril Stanley Smith, 1976 September 23.

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Oral history interview with Cyril Stanley Smith, 1976 September 23.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/81121492

Family background, early interests in science; study of metallurgy at University of Birmingham, graduate study at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, postdoctoral study with John Norton on x-rays, 1926. Work at American Brass Co. under Willard H. Bennett on chemical control of production, management of Copper Alloy Research Lab. History of the study of metallurgy, effects of the Depression; recruitment for work as research supervisor in the Projects Research Committee of the NDRC War Metallurgy Committee; work at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory on plutonium and uranium, beginning in 1943. Early discussions with Enrico Fermi about setting up Institutes at University of Chicago; work on microstructure and surface energy of metals at Institute of Metals, the work atmosphere, Harold Urey and Willard Libby at the Institute for Nuclear Studies. Funding of academic science, effects of World War II on science. Appointment to General Advisory Committee (GAC) of the Atomic Energy Commission, the Committee's priorities, power and decision-making processes, other Committee members and consultants: J. Robert Oppenheimer, Fermi, Isidor I. Rabi, Robert Bacher, John Manley, Hans Bethe, Norris Bradbury; views on reactor development and national nuclear policy; the Super (hydrogen bomb) incident and its influence on the status of GAC; reactions to the Soviet bomb, Edward Teller, disagreements about the weapons program; atmosphere and. Attitudes about science in the 1950s, Luis Alvarez's charge against Ernest Lawrence. Smith's later work on history of technology.

1 session.Transcript: 50 p.

American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library

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SNAC Resource ID: 8257890

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