Oral history interview with Niels Bohr, 1962 October 31 to 17 November.

ArchivalResource

Oral history interview with Niels Bohr, 1962 October 31 to 17 November.

Part of the Archives for the History of Quantum Physics oral history collection, which includes tapes and transcripts of oral history interviews conducted with ca. 100 atomic and quantum physicists. Subjects discuss their family backgrounds, how they became interested in physics, their educations, people who influenced them, their careers including social influences on the conditions of research, and the state of atomic, nuclear, and quantum physics during the period in which they worked. Discussions of scientific matters relate to work that was done between approximately 1900 and 1930, with an emphasis on the discovery and interpretations of quantum mechanics in the 1920s. Also prominently mentioned are: Niels Bjerrum, Percy Williams Bridgman, Charles Galton Darwin, Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac, Albert Einstein, Ralph Fowler, Hans Marius Hansen, Werner Heisenberg, Georg von Hevesy, Harald Höffding, William James, James Jeans, Walter Kossel, Paul Langevin, Max Theodor Felix von Laue, Henry Gwyn Jeffreys Moseley, John William Nicholson, Wolfgang Pauli, Max Planck, Boris Podolsky, John William Strutt Rayleigh, Rosen, Carl Runge, Ernest Rutherford, Johannes Robert Rydberg, Frederick Soddy, Arnold Sommerfeld, Edmund Clifton Stoner, John Joseph Thomson; Universität Göttingen, Universität München, and University of Manchester.

Sound recordings: 5 7-inch reels (ca. 7.0 hrs.), 5 sessions.Transcript: 67 p.

Information

SNAC Resource ID: 8264210

Related Entities

There are 32 Entities related to this resource.

Universität Göttingen.

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Universität München.

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University of Manchester

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6tc1xw8 (corporateBody)

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...

Kuhn, Thomas S.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6sx6g8x (person)

Center for History of Physics (American Institute of Physics)

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This oral history project was undertaken by the Center for History of Physics of the American Institute of Physics, beginning in about 1976. The American Philosophical Society Library is a designated repository for the archive, which includes photocopies of typed manuscripts of the interviews, and microfilm and microfiche of certain manuscript collections of astrophysicists. These include the papers of Robert D'E Atkinson, Seth Chandler, Theodore Dunham [The American Philosophical Society has re...

Stoner, Edmund Clifton, 1899-1968

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6zc859f (person)

Physicist and member of the Royal Society. Educated at Cambridge University; worked with Rutherford as a graduate student at the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge from 1921 to 1924 when he was appointed Lecturer in Physics at Leeds University. He remained at Leeds for the rest of his life, as Reader in Physics, 1927-1939, Professor of Theoretical Physics, 1939-1951, and Cavendish Professor of Physics, 1951-1963, in succession to R. Whiddington. His research interests were in magnetism and low temp...

Petersen, Aage

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6m91z5q (person)

Jeans, James, 1877-1946

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6w38pt0 (person)

Educated at Trinity College, Cambridge. Smith's Prizeman, 1900. Fellow of Trinity, 1901. University lecturer in mathematics, 1904. Professor of Applied Mathematics, Princeton University, 1905-1909. F. R. S., 1906. Secretary Royal Society. Royal Medallist, 1919. Knighted, 1928. O. M., 1939. From the description of Papers and 11 miscellaneous items from other series, 1896-1945. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 84865346 ...

Rydberg, J. R. (Johannes Robert), 1854-1919

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6903svg (person)

Rosenfeld, L. (Leon), 1904-1974

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

Langevin, Paul, 1872-1946

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6t156pz (person)

Physicist (Sonar science, molecular structure, magnetic theory, relativity) and administrator. On the physics faculty at Université de Paris (1898-1902); Collège de France (1902-1940); and Ecole de physique et chimie [industrielles] (1905-1926), director (1926-1940). From the description of Papers. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 77594568 ...

Einstein, Albert, 1879-1955

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w63c6p77 (person)

Albert Einstein was born at Ulm, in Württemberg, Germany, on March 14, 1879. Six weeks later the family moved to Munich, where he later on began his schooling at the Luitpold Gymnasium. Later, they moved to Italy and Albert continued his education at Aarau, Switzerland and in 1896 he entered the Swiss Federal Polytechnic School in Zurich to be trained as a teacher in physics and mathematics. In 1901, the year he gained his diploma, he acquired Swiss citizenship and, as he was...

Rutherford, Ernest, 1871-1937

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6zk5g6r (person)

Ernest Rutherford was a British physicist. From the description of Correspondence, 1890-1937. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 173465954 From the guide to the Ernest Rutherford correspondence, 1890-1937, 1890-1937, (American Philosophical Society) Ernest Rutherford was a physicist and was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1904. From the description of Letters, 1904-1924, to Bertram Borden Boltwood. (American Philosophical Society Library). W...

Laue, Max ˜vonœ 1879-1960

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6b27z19 (person)

Major affiliations include: Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany, 1905-1909, 1919-1943; Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany, 1909-1912; Universität Frankfurt-am-Main (later Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Universität Frankfurt), Frankkfurt-am-Main, Germany, 1914-1919; Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Berlin, Germany, 1951-1960. From the description of Papers. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122521272 Physicist. Major affi...

Höffding, Harold.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6tx54c2 (person)

Thomson, J. J. (Joseph John), 1856-1940

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6n29x8k (person)

English physicist. From the description of Autograph letter signed : Trinity Lodge, Cambridge, to Sir Sydney Cockerell, 1927 Feb. 12. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 270572272 Physicist (cathode rays, atomic structure, electrons) and administrator. On the faculty at University of Cambridge (1884-1940): director, Cavendish Laboratory (1884-1918), physics faculty (1894-1919), and master of Trinity College (1918-1940); and on the natural philosophy faculty at the Royal Instituti...

Moseley, H. G. J. (Henry Gwyn Jeffreys), 1887-1915

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w64j0njm (person)

Physicist. Graduated from Oxford in 1910; worked at Manchester under Rutherford, 1910-1913; worked in Oxford, 1913-1914. Killed at Gallipoli in the First World War. He established experimentally the atomic number of the elements. From the description of Papers and posthumous correspondence, ca. 1914-1916. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 79752327 From the description of Job application and testimonials, 1911-1914. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 78036768 Physicist. ...

Pauli, Wolfgang, 1900-1958

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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...

Sommerfeld, Arnold, 1868-1951

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6dn466s (person)

Physicist (mathematical physics, atomic physics, theoretical physics, wave mechanics, quantum mechanics). On the mineralogy faculty at Georg-August Universität zu Göttingen (1893-1897); on the mathematics faculty at Technische Universität Clausthal (1897-1900); on the mechanics faculty at the Technische Hochschule zu Aachen (1900-1906); and on the physics faculty at Universität München from 1906. From the description of Papers, ("New" Sommerfeld Nachlass), ca. 1890-ca. 1950. (Un...

Hevesy, Georg ˜vonœ 1885-1966

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6j104hh (person)

Chemist (radioactivity, isotope separation). Associate at the Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Copenhagen (1920-1926, 1934-1943); on the physical chemistry faculty at Universität Freiburg im Breisgau (1926-1935) and associate at the Institute for Research in Organic Chemistry from 1943. From the description of Lectures, 1962. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 78354780 From the description of Lectures [microform], 1962. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 83426747 ...

Runge, Carl, 1856-1927

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6f1921w (person)

Mathematician and physicist. Studied University of Munich, University of Berlin (Ph.D. 1880, Habil. 1883). Techn. Hochschule Hannover, professor 1886; University of Göttingen, professor 1904-1924. From the description of Papers. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 77663331 ...

Bridgman, P.W. (Percy Williams), 1882-1961

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Percy Williams Bridgman (1882-1961), was a physicist.  His contributions to the field concern the effects of high pressures on materials and their thermodynamic behavior, contributions that would not have been possible without the equipment, particularly a seal, that he invented himself.  He also contributed to crystallography, electrical conduction in metals, and the philosophy of modern physics.  He was a Nobel laureate in physics (1946) and recipient of many other honors.  He earned his Harva...

Nicholson, John William, 1881-....

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Heisenberg, Werner, 1901-1976

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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...

Soddy, Frederick, 1877-1956

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w65b00nb (person)

Physical chemist; Fellow of the Royal Society and Nobel prize winner; Professor of Inorganic and Physical Chemistry, Oxford, 1919-1936. Discoverer of isotopes. From the description of Papers, 1913-1957. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 84011697 Chemist. University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, 1894-1895; Merton College, Oxford, 1896-1898; private research in Oxford, 1898-1899; Demonstrator, McGill University, Montreal and work with Rutherford on Atomic Disentegration Theory, ...

Dirac, P.A.M. (Paul Adrien Maurice), 1902-1984

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6vx0j9j (person)

Physicist (quantum mechanics, positron, antimatter). On the physics faculty at University of Cambridge, 1932-1969; member, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, 1934-1935, 1946, 1947-1948, 1958-1959; and on the physics faculty at Florida State University, 1971-1984. Died 1984. From the description of P. Dirac and I. E. Tamm correspondence. 1928-1932. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 80927792 From the description of Lectures on quantum electrodynamics: student notes on Dirac...

Rayleigh, John William Strutt, baron, 1842-1919

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6514130 (person)

John William Strutt, the Third Baron Rayleigh, an English physicist, was born in Terling, Essex, in 1842. He attended Cambridge University and in 1879 became professor of experimental physics there and director of its Cavendish Laboratory until 1884. He later was on the faculty at the Royal Institution of Great Britain, became chancellor of Cambridge University, and was a founder of the National Physics Laboratory in Teddington, England. Strutt, who with Lord William Ramsey, discovered the first...

Darwin, Charles Galton, Sir, 1887-1962

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6zs2z2p (person)

Physicist and Fellow of the Royal Society. From the description of Correspondence with Sir D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson, 1923-1948. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122505991 Physicist (wave theory, quantum theory, x-ray diffraction) and administrator. On the physics faculty at Manchester University (1910-1914); on the mathematics faculty at University of Cambridge (1914-1922, 1936-1938); on the natural philosophy faculty at University of Edinburgh (1923-1936); director of the Na...

Fowler, R. H. (Ralph Howard), 1889-1944

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Rüdinger, Erik,

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6f76xz8 (person)

Planck, Max, 1858-1947

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w64m961m (person)

Physicist Max Planck authored the quantum theory. From the guide to the Max Planck correspondence, 1919-1948, 1919-1948, (American Philosophical Society) German physicist. From the description of Autograph letter signed : Berlin-Grunewald, to Artur Neuberg, 1939 Nov. 10. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 270872119 Max Planck was a physicist and the author of the quantum theory. Received Nobel prize in Physics (1918). Involvement with the Kaiser-Wilhelm Soci...