Oral history interview with Ralph Alanson Sawyer, 1967 March 16 and 1970 September 24.

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Oral history interview with Ralph Alanson Sawyer, 1967 March 16 and 1970 September 24.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/81360279

Childhood interests and family background; studies; undergraduate at Dartmouth College, 1911-1915; graduate research on vacuum spark spectra under Robert Millikan at University of Chicago, 1915-1917 and 1918-1919; faculty positions at University of Michigan, 1919; role of Harrison Randall at Michigan in continuation of vacuum spark work; WWI optical work for Bureau of Ordnance, 1917-1918; research interests in atomic spectra and structural analysis as result of work with Friedrich Paschen at Universität Berlin, 1926, 1931; impressions of Paschen's laboratory and intellectual ferment at the Universität Berlin; spectroscopic analysis applied to industrial problems at University of Michigan, 1930s-1940s; role as World War II naval research administrator, 1941, 1942-1945, sets tone for remaining career as administrator; Dean of Graduate Studies at Michigan, 1946-1950. Sawyer's role in Optical Society of America; comments on Arthur Hardy and OSA internal crises; changing conceptions of the Optical Society reflecting changing nature of the field in the 1930s; relation to the American Institute of Physics (AIP) as Chairman of the Board and Acting Director; disputes over Institute functions, role of Elmer Hutchisson; comments on role of director, overviews on AIP orientation.

Sound recordings: 2 5-inch sound reels (ca. 5.0 hrs.), 2 sessions.Transcript: 63 p.

American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library

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SNAC Resource ID: 8262345

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Physicist. High Energy Radiation Section, National Bureau of Standards, 1949-1962; Chief, Radiation Physics Division, 1962-1966; Director, American Institute of Physics, 1966-1986. From the description of The story of the American Institute of Physics, 1967-1987. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 154305950 The American Institute of Physics (AIP) is a not-for-profit membership corporation chartered in New York State in 1931 for the purpose of promoting the advancement and diffus...

Dartmouth College

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Sawyer, Ralph A. (Ralph Alanson), 1895-1978

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Professor of physics, dean of the Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies, director of the Phoenix Project, and Vice President for Research at the University of Michigan, scientist and administrator for the U.S. Navy during World War II, technical director of atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll, officer of the American Institute of Physics and Optical Society of America. From the description of Ralph A. Sawyer papers, 1918-1978. (University of Michigan). WorldCat record id: 154302...

Weiner, Charles.

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Universität Berlin.

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Sawyer, Ralph A. (Ralph Alanson), 1895-1978

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Professor of physics, dean of the Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies, director of the Phoenix Project, and Vice President for Research at the University of Michigan, scientist and administrator for the U.S. Navy during World War II, technical director of atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll, officer of the American Institute of Physics and Optical Society of America. From the description of Ralph A. Sawyer papers, 1918-1978. (University of Michigan). WorldCat record id: 154302...

University of Michigan.

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Optical society of America

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