History Newsletter CENTER FOR HISTORY OF PHYSICS&NIELS BOHR LIBRARY & ARCHIVES Vol. 43, No. 2 • Winter 2011–2012 Conference: The Next Generation of Historians of Physical Science Early-career historians of the physical Amy’s committee members included and the development of the Geiger- sciences converged on the American Fábio Freitas (Brazil), Anna Holterhoff Müller counter to interactions of the Center for Physics at the end of July for and Christian Joas (Germany), Joe Martin medical and physics communities in the a four-day conference, sponsored by and Ann Robinson (US), Pierre Teissier early-20th century over control of X-ray AIP’s Center for History of Physics. The (France), and Xiaodong Yin (China). They diagnostics and treatments. There was conference theme was ‘Continuity and wrote the call for papers, selected the a session on instrumentation, one on Discontinuity in the Physical Sciences papers to be presented, and developed earth and space sciences, and another since the Enlightenment’. In the 1970s the program. The Center’s goal is to on theory and experiment. The topic and 80s, a grad student attracting the most conference was held attention was the history each year—the Joint of quantum mechanics, Atlantic Seminar in with papers on Louis de History of the Physical Broglie, quantum optics, Sciences (JASHoPS); it quantum measurement drew mainly from the in the 1960s, and more. eastern US. This meeting attracted speakers from Conference attendees around the world. Fifty- broke into small groups four participants came for tours provided by Joe from fifteen countries, Anderson and the staff including China, Japan, of the Niels Bohr Library Brazil, Mexico, Canada, & Archives. Although nine European countries, they had heard of NBLA’s and the US. collections before, many attendees did not realize The unique feature of the conference was reinvigorate the community of historians just how rich the collections are. Indeed, the way it was organized. This meeting of physics and to make this a broadly altogether 23 researchers worked in was by and for early-career historians of international community. NBLA before and after the conference. physics. The organizing committee was We hope that by introducing young chaired by 2010 CHP intern Amy Fisher, The presentations covered a wide range historians to NBLA in person, we will who recently defended her dissertation. of topics from physics in Latin America (Continued on page 2) In this issue... Conference: The Next Generation of Grants-in-Aid Help Young Scholars Connect ............................... 9 Historians of Physical Science........................................... 1 Documentation Preserved: New Collections ............................. 10 Joe Anderson Presents at Scientific Archives Conference ......................................... 2 Please Help Us Contact ......................................................... 12 The National Archives Agrees to Accession Documentation Preserved: New Finding Aids ............................ 17 Personal Papers of Department of Energy Scientists .............. 3 Online Access to Historical CERN An Almost New Journal in Council and Committee Documents ................................. 11 History of Physical Science ..................................................... 5 Recent Publications of Interest ............................................... 20 Recent Additions to the Niels Bohr Library & Archives ................... 7 Cover Photo: Niels Bohr Library & Archives Attendees of the Summer 2011 conference “Continuity and Discontinuity 2011 Book Donations ...................................................... 9 in the Physical Sciences since the Enlightenment.” AIP Member Societies: The American Physical Society • The Optical Society of America • The Acoustical Society of America • The Society of Rheology • The American Association of Physics Teachers American Crystallographic Association • American Astronomical Society • American Association of Physicists in Medicine • AVS The Science and Technology Society • American Geophysical Union History of Physics and the NY Mets, proving that some also sponsored the things are even more mysterious to first in a new series the Brazilians and Europeans than Max of Science Heritage Planck’s feelings about the quantum. The Public Lectures. David conference closed with a round-table DeVorkin, senior discussion of publication of some of the curator of astronomy talks and with great hopes for more such and space science at the meetings in the future. National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian After the conference closed, an Institution, gave a international soccer match started at lively talk on how the noon in the AIP oval and didn’t finish Cold War changed the until after 6pm! All our visitors went Smithsonian’s Astro- home with a warm remembrance of AIP. physical Observatory. Several said this was the best conference they had yet attended. The next one will Our thanks go out to be even better! ■ long-term supporters of CHP who accepted Joe Anderson Presents invitations to comment at Scientific Archives on papers presented: Conference Marta Jordi Taltavull of the Max-Planck-Institut für Wissen- schaftsgeschichte presents her talk “On the Border between Light Dieter Hoffman, Richard and Matter: Continuity and Discontinuity in the Development of Staley, Alexei Kojevnikov, Joe Anderson, Director of the Niels Bohr Optical Dispersion” at the Summer 2011 conference for young Michel Janssen, Roger Library & Archives, gave the opening scholars. Credit: AIP Center for History of Physics. Launius, Christoph Lehner, presentation at the 5th Annual Scientific transform them into long-term users and Joan Bromberg. Their presence made Archives Conference in Rio de Janiero on and supporters of the library. this an intergenerational conference, too, September 27. and provided some extra continuity in Two keynote talks were given. Jaume scholarship. The conference, which is sponsored bi- Navarro (MPI for History of Science, annually by the Museu de Astronomia e Berlin) spoke on transformations in how The energy levels of the young historians Ciências Afins and Fundação Casa de Rui physics was taught in England in the were wonderful to witness. Discussions Barbosa, brings together Brazilian, Ameri- 19th century. Michel Janssen (University were lively and cheerful, both during and can, and European archivists to share in- of Minnesota) discussed ‘arcs and outside of sessions. Almost half of the formation and discuss solutions to com- scaffoldings’ in the history of relativity participants attended a baseball game mon problems. and quantum theory. The Center for between the Washington Nationals Anderson’s talk, “Pragmatic Appraisal, Col- lecting the Records of Science,” focused on determining the likely historical value of science records. Archivists are faced with the problem of identifying a small amount of the total universe of records— somewhere around 1 to 5% according to many authorities—that may reasonably be preserved and that represents a fair reflec- tion of the important aspects of the area being documented. Anderson discussed documentation strategy research, an ap- proach to appraisal that was developed at AIP and at the MIT Archives, and that has helped to create an international network of contributing repositories that works to David R. Crawford of Duke University and the University of Pittsburgh presents his talk document the history of physics and allied “Boltzmann and Fisher: The Role of Statistical Mechanical Theory in the Development of sciences. Contact [email protected] for Mathematical Population Genetics” at the Summer 2011 conference for young scholars. Credit: AIP Center for History of Physics. more inforamtion. ■ 2 History Newsletter | Winter 2011–2012 www.aip.org/history The National Archives Agrees to Accession Personal Papers of Department of Energy Scientists By John Stoner and Jean Deken Thanks to the perseverance of con- tional Collaborations, both led by Joan sentative indicated that such collections tract laboratory records managers and Warnow-Blewett, and the new schedule were all secondary reference materials archivists,* the U.S. Department of was a major improvement over the ear- and that inclusion of such an item would Energy (DOE) has successfully revised lier version. The final schedule divided guarantee rejection of the schedule by its Records Retention and Disposition R&D records into four main types: case NARA. In the interest of expediting ap- Schedule for research and development files; individual records series; program proval, the item was not included in the records to allow the “private” records planning and management records; and final version of the schedule. of DOE laboratory scientists and medical research records. engineers to be preserved in the U.S. Implementation of the approved DOE National Archives. However, some members of the work- R&D schedule resulted in improved ing group thought that what was miss- management of LBNL’s scientific and Like the people who create them, the ing from the schedule was an item on technical records and the transfer of a records of highly skilled, multi-talented, individual scientists’ records collec- significant volume of R&D records to the variously occupied practitioners defy tions. Many scientists at national labo- Federal Records Center. However, after a easy categorization, and yet such re- ratories hold multiple positions during few years, it became apparent that sev- cords provide a fascinating glimpse into