Oral history interview with Herman William Koch, 1986 September 16 to 10 March 1987.

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Oral history interview with Herman William Koch, 1986 September 16 to 10 March 1987.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/82863649

Youth and college education in Queens, New York; graduate studies and research work with Donald Kerst at the University of Illinois, 1941; Ph.D. in nuclear fission, 1944. Contract work during Word War II for NDRC, Woolwich Arsenal in England; subcontract work on photofission threshold for the Manhattan Project (Enrico Fermi); involvement in medical betatron work (Philip Morrison). Postwar transitions at the University of Illinois. Work at National Bureau of Standards as Director for the Betatron Laboratory and, from 1962, as Director of the Radiation Physics Division after Lauriston Taylor's retirement. Work on radiation processing and food preservation. Directorship of the American Institute of Physics (AIP); his reasons for leaving the National Bureau of Standards; his goals for AIP, its independence. Discussion of the scientific information explosion and the National Science Foundation (NSF) grant (Elmer Hutchisson); Manpower Statistics (the Bromley Report); long-range planning committees (Frederick Seitz); effects of Internal Revenue Service audit, 1977/1978; classification of physics documents (Philip Morse, Thomas Lauritsen); information as a saleable commodity (Germany, England); electronic information systems (PINET and PIMAIL); translation of Russian journals. Also, major events in reorganization: move to Woodbury and that facility's later expansion, computerization of publishing activities, relationship between governing boards and Member Societies. Attracting new societies. AIP's early (pioneer) ventures: Manpower Statistics, history and education programs, and public relations. Series ends with a brief discussion of the career of Marshak Cleland: his work in radiation treatment, founding his own company (Radiation Dynamics), and his new venture in Colorado. Also prominently mentioned are: Alan Astin, Edward U. Condon, Michael Danos, Ugo Fano, Evans Hayward, Raymond Hayward, Wheeler Loomis, Harold Wyckoff; and the American Physical Society.

Preliminary transcript.

American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library

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SNAC Resource ID: 8290678

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