Oral history interview with Edwin Ernest Salpeter, 1978 March 30.

ArchivalResource

Oral history interview with Edwin Ernest Salpeter, 1978 March 30.

Early years in Vienna; emigration to Sydney, Australia as refugee; training there in theoretical physics, to 1946. Quantum field theory and social interactions under Rudolf Peierls at University of Birmingham, to 1949, and Hans Bethe at Cornell University; relations among U.S. field theorists; nuclear theory applied to experiments. Discovery of triple-alpha process at Caltech, 1951; move into astrophysics and social relations in Cornell physics and astronomy departments. Work on increasing variety of astrophysics problems, some related to cosmology, and on ionosphere; Arecibo observatory. Sources of funds. Consulting on anti-ballistic missiles etc. in the 1960s; JASON, NASA and other government relations. Comments throughout on politics; discussions of work style, "pragmatic" approach to theory. Also prominently mentioned are: Wilhelm Heinrich Walter Baade, Victor Bailey, David Bohm, Henry Booker, Sidney Brenner, Dale Corson, Francis Crick, Frank Drake, Freeman Dyson, Richard Phillips Feynman, William Alfred Fowler, George Gamow, Murray Gell-Mann, Thomas Gold, Bill Gordon, Fred Hoyle, Charles Christian Lauritsen, Thomas Lauritsen, Francis Eugene Low, R. E. Makinson, Robert McNamara, Philip A. Morrison, Mark Oliphant, Eugenia Peierls, David Pines, Martin Ryle, Miriam Salpeter, Allan Sandage, Martin Schwarzschild, Julian R. Schwinger, R. W. Shaw, Tamann, Robert Rathbun Wilson, R. W. Wooley; California Institute of Technology, Conference on Relativistic Astrophysics, Conference on Stellar Populations (1957 : Rome, Italy), Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton), National Science Foundation, Philips Elektronik Industrie GmbH, Sydney Boys High School, Tel-Aviv University, Texas Relativistic Astrophysics Conference, United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, United States Department of Defense, United States President's Science Advisory Committee, University of Sydney, and Vatican Symposia.

Sound recordings: 6 sound cassettes (ca. 5.5 hrs.), 1 session.Transcript: 89 p.

Information

SNAC Resource ID: 8297766

Related Entities

There are 37 Entities related to this resource.

United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6r60hpw (corporateBody)

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was established as an independent agency of the executive branch on October 1, 1958 by the National Aeronautics and Space Act (72 Stat. 426), approved July 29, 1958. It superseded the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). NASA conducted redsearch on problems of flight, developed aeronautical and space vehicles, explored outer space, and participated in international programs for the peaceful development of space technology....

Feynman, Richard P. (Richard Phillips), 1918-1988

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6mx38zq (person)

Physicist Richard Feynman won his scientific renown through the development of quantum electrodynamics, or QED, a theory describing the interaction of particles and atoms in radiation fields. As a part of this work he invented what came to be known as "Feynman Diagrams," visual representations of space-time particle interactions. For this work he was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics, together with J. Schwinger and S. I. Tomonaga, in 1965. Later in his life Feynman became a prominent public fig...

Pines, David, 1924-....

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6sj1npp (person)

Gamow, George, 1904-1968

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6154j8k (person)

George Gamow: physicist, astronomer, and author. Born Georgii Antonovič Gamov. Barbara Merrihew Perkins: editor and translator. From the description of George Gamow and Barbara Gamow papers, 1915-1975 (bulk 1950-1975). (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 70981157 Russian-born American physicist, early advocate of the "Big Bang" theory of the origin of the universe. Professor of Physics at George Washington University, 1934-1956. While a student at the Institute of Theoretical Ph...

Lauritsen, Charles Christian, 1892-1968

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w63f4qw3 (person)

Lauritsen, C. C. (1892- 1968). Professor of Physics, California Institute of Technology, 1930-1962. From the description of Papers, 1927-1977 (Bulk 1946-1973) (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 80301645 Biography Charles Christian Lauritsen, known to his colleagues as Charlie or C. C., was born in Holstebro, Denmark in 1892 and educated at the Odense Technical School. During World War I, although Denmark officially remained n...

National Science Foundation (U.S.)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6pc6rdk (corporateBody)

Gold, Thomas, Sir, -1686

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6df6s9v (person)

Died June 22, 2004. From the description of Oral history interview with Thomas Gold, 1978 April 1. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 78228370 Thomas Gold (1920-2004). Astronomer. Education: Cambridge University. Professional experience: Cavendish Laboratory, 1946-1947; Trinity College, 1947-1951; Royal Greenwich Observatory, 1952-1956; Harvard University, 1957-1958; Cornell University, 1959-1987. Research interests: cosmology, geophysics, radio astronomy, magnetohydrodynamics. ...

United States. President's Science Advisory Committee

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6p024nz (corporateBody)

This committee operated between 1951 and 1973 in order to provide advice and analysis to the president and the federal government on a wide range of scientific and technological matters. From the description of Records [microform], 1957-1961. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 80053197 In 1951 President Harry S. Truman established a Science Advisory Committee as part of the Office of Defense Mobilization (ODM). On November 29, 1957 Preisent Dwight D. Eisenhower tran...

Schwarzschild, Martin

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w64t9pnj (person)

An American astronomer who was Eugene Higgins Professor of Astronomy at Princeton University from 1951 to 1979. From the description of Martin Schwarzschild papers, 1939-1994. (Princeton University Library). WorldCat record id: 79110403 Martin Schwarzchild (1912-1997). From the description of Oral history interview with Martin Schwarzchild, 1977 September 27. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 79715469 Martin Schwarzschild, 1912-1997. An American astronomer ...

Bethe, Hans A. (Hans Albrecht), 1906-2005

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6pn965q (person)

Physicist. From the description of Hans Albrecht Bethe oral histories, 1966-1981. (Cornell University Library). WorldCat record id: 63935483 Alsatian-born American physicist, winner of the 1967 Nobel Prize for physics. From the description of Typed letter signed : Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, to Samuel Goudsmit, 1936 June 6. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 270953107 Unpublished document written as chapter 13 of the Smyth Report. Letters about it ...

Hoyle, Fred, 1915-2001

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6dz09v4 (person)

Oliphant, Mark, 1901-2000

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6125s1p (person)

Died 14 July 2000. From the description of Oral history interview with Sir Mark Oliphant, 1971 November 3. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 84185678 Sir Mark Oliphant, founder and first director of the Research School of Physical Sciences at the Australian National University was appointed Governor of South Australia in 1971. From the description of Typescript address [manuscript]. 1973. (Libraries Australia). WorldCat record id: 225840733 Director, Resear...

Fowler, William A.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6hh6mxg (person)

Fowler died in 1995. From the description of Phyphty years of phun and physics in the W. K. Kellogg Radiation Laboratory at Caltech, by Willy Phowler, 1982. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 82576561 (William A. Fowler 1911-1995). Physicist (nuclear physics, astrophysics). On the physics faculty at California Institute of Technology (1939-1982); received the Nobel Prize in Physics with Subrahmanyan Chandrasekher in 1983 for his "theoretical and experimental studies of the nucle...

University of Birmingham.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6100zxt (corporateBody)

Individual letters are regularly acquired, usually by purchase, to complement holdings of personal papers and institutional archives within the Special Collections Department.The letters are added to either a general sequence of autograph letters (described here) or one of a small number of separate sequences of autograph letters devoted to a particular individual. Reference: University of Birmingham, Guide to Special Collections Archives and Manuscripts (http://www.is.b...

Peierls Rudolf E. (Rudolf Ernst), 1907-1995

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6v12b35 (person)

Theoretical physics (quantum theory of solids of electro-magnetic fields and of the solid nucleus; World War II work on atomic energy). Affiliations include: 1925, Berlin University as student of physics; 1926 transferred to University of Munich, Department of Theoretical Physics (A. Sommerfeld); 1928 transferred to Leipzig University, Department of Theoretical Physics (W. Heisenberg); and in 1929 to the Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich (W. Pauli). 1929, Ph.D., Leipzig. Fall 1929 to Fall ...

Gell-Mann, Murray

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6ht2qqm (person)

Born 1929. From the description of Oral history interview with Murray Gell-Mann, 1982 July 23. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 78732383 Biography Murray Gell-Mann was born on September 15, 1929, in New York City, the second son of Arthur Isidore Gell-Mann and Pauline, née Reichstein. The hyphenation of the family surname was introduced by Arthur from the traditional Gellmann used by his forebears in the place of his birth,...

California institute of technology

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6rj8cxv (corporateBody)

Cornell University. Dept. of Astronomy.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w65r0v9b (corporateBody)

Conference on Relativistic Astrophyics.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6cw0hbw (corporateBody)

Bailey, Victor Albert, 1895-1964.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w62r6kdq (person)

Physicist. Lecturer at Queen's College, Oxford, England; Associate Professor of Physics (1924-1936), Professor of Experimental Physics (1936-1953), and Research Professor (1953-1960), University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia. From the description of Papers, 1921-1965. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 155005613 Physicist. Lecturer at Queen's College, Oxford, England; Associate Professor of Physics (1924-1936), Professor of Experimental Physics (1936-1953), and Research Professor...

Texas Relativistic Astrophysics Conference.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w68111xj (corporateBody)

Lauritsen, Thomas, 1915-1973

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6qj7mm1 (person)

Professor of nuclear physics, California Institute of Technology, 1941-1973. From the description of Papers, 1922-1974, (bulk: 1952-1973) (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 78006848 Biography Thomas Lauritsen--or Tommy, as he was always called--was the son of Charles Christian Lauritsen, one of Caltech's most prominent nuclear physicists. Tommy Lauritsen's forty-one year association with Caltech began in 1932 when he entered ...

Weart, Spencer R., 1942-....

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6222w7s (person)

Spencer R. Weart, born in 1942, received a B.A. in Physics at Cornell University in 1963 and a Ph. D. in Physics and Astrophysics at the University of Colorado, Boulder, in 1968. He then worked for three years at CalTech as a Fellow of the Mt. Wilson and Palomar Observatories, publishing papers in leading scientific journals. In 1971 Dr. Weart changed his field, enrolling as a graduate student in the History Department of the University of California, Berkeley. In 1974 he took up his present pos...

Bohm, David, 1917-1992

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w63j4hv6 (person)

Bohm, 1917-1992. From the description of Oral history interview with David Bohm, 1981 May 8. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 79891373 Bohm, 1917-1992. Studied at Pennsylvania State University, graduating in 1939. He moved to the California Institute of Technology for postgraduate work, completing his Ph.D. in 1943 at the University of California Berkeley under J. R. Oppenheimer. He then worked on the Manhattan Project at the Berkeley Radiation Laboratory. In 1947...

McNamara, Robert S., 1916-2009

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w69p30d1 (person)

U.S. secretary of defense, president of World Bank, and corporate executive. Full name: Robert Strange McNamara. From the description of Robert S. McNamara papers, 1934-2009 (bulk 1968-2005). (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 71132706 Robert Strange McNamara (b. 1916) was a business executive and Secretary of Defense during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. During World War II he worked on the deployment of the B-29 bomber, and served in the Army Air Forces in India, Chi...

Institute for advanced study Princeton, N.J.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6gx82t3 (corporateBody)

Salpeter, Edwin E.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6862h61 (person)

Born in 1924. From the description of Oral history interview with Edwin Ernest Salpeter, 1978 March 30. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 83226002 Physicist and astrophysicist, Cornell University. From the description of Edwin E. Salpeter papers, 1949-1998. (Cornell University Library). WorldCat record id: 63543513 ...

National Military Establishment (U.S.)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w61s0gfp (corporateBody)

Low, Francis E. (Francis Eugene), 1921-2007

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6rx9f2n (person)

Philips Elektronik Industrie GmbH

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6gv1m7r (corporateBody)

University of Sydney.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6b62j7h (corporateBody)

Vatican Symposia.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6dc415h (corporateBody)

Conference on Stellar Populations (1957 : Rome, Italy)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w67m673q (corporateBody)

Dyson, Freeman J.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6125vkp (person)

Born in 1923. From the description of Oral history interview with Freeman J. Dyson, 1986 December 17. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 81407220 Physicist and mathematician. Born 1923. From the description of Papers of Freeman J. Dyson. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 74986028 ...

Sandage, Allan.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w60s2d7m (person)

Cornell University. Dept. of Physics.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6m967vw (corporateBody)

United States. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6d54m5g (corporateBody)