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HistoryNEWSLETTER A FORUM OF THE AMERICAN PHYSICALof SOCIETY • VOLUME XI • NO. 2 • SPRING 2 0 1 0 Teaching the History of the

By B. Cameron Reed, Alma College, [email protected]

he development of nuclear requirements comprise about one- weapons during the Man- third of a student’s overall credit Thattan Project in World War requirements for graduation. Within II is one of the most significant the natural area we have a events of the twentieth century. physical- requirement, with The strategic, scientific, national courses such as astronomy, environ- policy, and security issues asso- mental studies, general physics, and ciated with nuclear weapons chemistry being popular choices. are never far from the headlines Alma operates on a “4-4-1” and will remain with us for gen- schedule: two traditional four- erations to come. If asked “What month terms (Fall and Winter), was the Manhattan Project and followed by a one-month Spring who was involved with it?”, term. The latter begins in late April many individuals would prob- and runs for about 3.5 weeks until ably answer that it had some- just before Memorial Day. During thing to do with the making of Spring term, students take one atomic bombs and perhaps offer course intensively, often meeting a name such as Oppenheimer or every day for 3-4 hours (or even Fermi or (erroneously) Einstein. more if a lab is involved); they are Beyond that, knowledge would Students at the Test Site monument. Photo required to complete two Spring likely become fuzzier, with some courtesy of Ed Neuenschwander and the Society of terms to graduate. This provides a aware that the Trinity bomb was Physics Students. venue for courses that would not tested in New Mexico before otherwise conveniently fit into a and were dropped on and regular term: many offerings involve field work or a travel Nagasaki. While some respondents would know that those component. But since many students prefer not to travel for devices used and as their “active ingre- their Spring terms, a demand for on-campus classes always dients,” how many could explain how those materials were exists, particularly ones that carry general-education credit obtained and why their properties demanded radically and have minimal prerequisites. different designs for the Hiroshima and Trinity/Nagasaki weapons? How many could give a cogent explanation Continued on page 3 of the term “critical mass?” Indeed, many of our physics majors probably graduate with little better understanding of the science underlying nuclear weapons than that with Inside This Issue which they emerged from high school. For several years I have taught a general-education Editor’s Corner 2 course on the history of the Manhattan Project to students at Alma College in an effort to address, in a small way, the general lack of knowledge in this area. In this article 2010 Pais Prize Winner 3 I describe my experience in developing and teaching this class. I would be interested in knowing about the experi- “April” Meeting Reports 4 ences of anyone else doing something similar. Alma College is a strictly undergraduate liberal-arts school of about 1,300 students located in central Michigan. Call for Nominations 13 In addition to choosing a major, every student must com- plete a requisite number of credits in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. These general-education New Books of Note 14 Editors’ Corner

To all the authors who contributed discussions about nuclear weapons This past semester one student, a articles for this issue of our newsletter, and their consequences. As with so psychology major, wrote “This week I I express my appreciation. The article many topics, I find this one is best have been thinking a lot about the sci- by Cameron Reed on teaching the his- approached through its history. entists who developed nuclear weap- tory of the Manhattan Project hit me Although I cannot go into the depth ons. The video that we watched last rather close to home. For over twenty that Professor Reed does in his dedi- week [The Day After Trinity by Jon years I have taught a general-education cated course, I can affirm some of his Else, 1980] certainly shed a different course called “Science, Technology, experiences. I have seen the looks of perspective on the whole issue. I am & Society.” This has been a fulfilling surprise when students realize that the finding more and more that you really and enjoyable task. It allows me to authors of the first-generation nuclear do not understand a situation until you meet students of all majors across the weapons were people of warm human- are able to see it from the inside out…” campus community. It presents an ity who found themselves in unprec- The study of the history of physics opportunity to share a glimpse into edented circumstances. I have read the powerfully helps us to see physics, and evidence-based reasoning, and helps student essays and heard their in-class its interactions with the larger society, students discover how the methods of vocalizations as they struggle with the from the inside out. Thanks again to all science cannot be reduced to a univer- “what would I have done at the time” the authors who contributed articles for sal checklist. Together we think about questions. I have seen their astonish- this issue of our newsletter. With each the implications, for individuals and ment when they realize how much the article, I find that I learn something across societies and timescales, of sci- Cold War really cost. I have witnessed interesting. ence and its applications. their reactions when they see that poli- Each semester this adventure cies are not always consistent with a —Dwight E. (Ed) Neuenschwander, includes two or three weeks of nation’s mythos and rhetoric. Editor

APS Policy on Peer Review Materials

By Michael Riordan, Forum Councilor

The Forum on History of Phys- At the November 2009 meeting at its 18 April 2010 meeting. This ics of the American Physical of the APS Council, Roger Stuewer statement can be accessed on the Society publishes this Newsletter moved that the APS establish a com- APS web site at: http://publish.aps.org/ semiannually. Nonmembers who mittee to make recommendations peer-review-materials-policy. wish to receive the Newsletter regarding release of peer-review mate- Briefly, it states that peer-review should make a donation to the rials on articles submitted to its jour- materials will not normally be released Forum of $5 per year (+ $3 addi- nals. He noted that the APS did not until 50 years have lapsed. No mate- tional for airmail). Each 3-year then have an official policy regarding rials that identify living individu- volume consists of six issues. such release to scholarly researchers, als will be released without their The articles in this issue repre- and that it was largely left to the dis- written consent. Exceptions can be sent the views of their authors cretion of the Editor-in-Chief. made only at the discretion of the APS and are not necessarily those of In the following months, a com- Editor-in-Chief. the Forum or APS. mittee chaired by Forum member The Council agreed that this Robert Crease of the State Univer- policy represents a fair compromise Editor sity of New York at Stony Brook, between the needs of historians and including current Forum Chair for access to this information and Dwight E. Neuenschwander , formulated a for- the requirements of the APS pub- Department of Physics mal policy statement, which was lishing department to protect the Southern Nazarene University approved unanimously by the Council confidentiality of its reviewers. n Bethany, OK 73008 [email protected] (405) 491-6361 Archiving FHP

Associate Editor FHP Webmaster George Zimmer- Valley, the history of telescopes, and Don Lemons man has been working with speakers so forth. Photographs from the ses- Department of Physics at FHP sessions to have their presenta- sions are also on the FHP website. In Bethel College tions posted on the FHP website, http:// progress is a posting of letters and North Newton, KS 67117 www.aps.org/units/fhp. These presenta- documents on the founding of the FHP [email protected] tions are valuable historical resources— itself (originally, the Division of the on John Wheeler, , Silicon History of Physics) during 1978-1980.

2 Volume XI, No. 2 • Spring 2010 • History of Physics Newsletter Russell McCormmach, 2010 Pais Prize Winner Manhattan Project Continued from page 1 Last fall this newsletter reported For many years I have person- that Russell K. McCormmach had been ally been interested in the history and selected as the recipient of the 2010 physics of the Manhattan Project. By Abraham Pais Prize for the History the year 2002 I felt that I had acquired of Physics, “for the study of German enough understanding of the physics science in the 19th and 20th centu- of the topic that I was ready to offer a ries and a major biography of Henry Spring-term course with a prerequisite Cavendish (with Christa Jungnickel, of basic algebra. I have now taught his late wife), and for founding the the course a total of five times since journal Historical Studies in the Physical then, as well as a -off “First-Year Sciences.” We promised at that time Seminar” course that was offered for to offer additional notes on Professor the first time in Fall 2009. McCormmach’s work. The text for the course is Richard Professor McCormmach’s work has Rhodes masterful book The Making had a profound influence in transform- of the Atomic Bomb, from which the ing the study of the history of physics course draws its title. Our Spring from an activity of enthusiastic but terms run about 19 instructional days, untrained aficionados into an academic which corresponds to about one chap- discipline worthy of a scholarly pro- Russell K. McCormmach. ter per day. Students are expected to fession. That transformation required read each chapter the night before not only exemplary models of scholar- Experimental Life (Bucknell University class. Class time then consists of me ship, but also the development of the Press, 1999). More recently, this was explaining the material with the aid infrastructure so necessary to schol- followed by McCormmach’s Specula- of numerous PowerPoint slides, occa- arly discourse. Dr. McCormmach has tive Truth: Henry Cavendish, Natural sional videos, simple blackboard cal- been a key figure on both sides of the Philosophy, and the Rise of Modern culations, and demonstrations with transformation. Theoretical Science (Oxford University equipment such as a Russell McCormmach was born Press, 2004). and simple radioactive sources, an in 1933 in Pendleton, Oregon. In 1959 McCormmach’s well-known novel e/m tube to illustrate the idea of using he earned Bachelor’s degrees from Night of a Classical magnetic fields to separate , the Washington State University and (Harvard University Press, 1982) takes and spectrum tubes. Students are Oxford University, and in 1967 the the reader into the mind of a fictional often astonished to find that household PhD from Case Western Reserve Uni- professor, Victor Jakob, an elderly smoke detectors and Fiestaware dishes versity. He has taught physics, math- physics instructor at a small German are nuclear. ematics, and the history of science at university in 1918. The sense of what In the first incarnation of the class several institutions, including Wash- “revolution in physics” meant to those I stuck closely to the one-chapter-per- ington State University, San Francisco who lived through it comes to life as day prescription, but this proved not State University, , we participate in Professor Jakob’s fully satisfying. Rhodes devotes space the University of , Johns struggles to cope as the permanency of to topics such as weapons develop- Hopkins University, and Whitman his cherished scientific principles come ment in World War I and the persecu- College. He served as an assistant edi- crashing down all around him. tion of , which, while relevant tor of the Encyclopedia Britannica in the In an interview with Contemporary to his setting the historical stage, are early 1960s. Authors (1 January 2004), Professor not directly germane to the science Dr. McCormmach was the founding McCormmach said “When I want of nuclear weapons. There is a lot to editor of the journal Historical Studies to understand something, I invari- cover in 3.5 weeks; deleting these sec- in the Physical Sciences, editing Volumes ably look to see how it came about tions from the “required reading” has I-III, and co-editing of Volumes IV-X. in time, that is, I study it through its freed up time to go into more detail on A monumental history of German history…I study not only how science the science. physics was forthcoming from Profes- has changed in time but also how the Like the chapters in Rhodes’ book, sor McCormmach and his late wife, the rest of the world has changed with the course material goes largely in writer Crista Jungnickel, in the two- it…I use different approaches: I write chronological order. We begin with volume Intellectual Masters of : history to depict the working relation- the discovery of X-rays and radioac- from Ohm to Einstein ships of large numbers of scientists, tivity as the opening acts of modern (University of Press, 1986). biography to deal with the experience physics, then move on to the work of McCormmach and Jungnickel also of a particular scientist, and fiction to Rutherford and Bohr, the discovery brought Henry Cavendish out of rela- get at the meaning of science in indi- of the , the work of Enrico tive obscurity and misunderstanding vidual lives.” More about Professor Fermi, the discovery of fission and with Cavendish (American Philosophi- McCormmach can be found at http:// cal Society, 1996) and Cavendish: The aps.org/units/fhp/awards/pais/index.cfm.n Continued on page 12

Volume XI, No. 2 • Spring 2010 • History of Physics Newsletter 3 APS Meeting Reports on Forum-Sponsored Sessions: 2010 ‘April’ Meeting Remembering

By Gloria B. Lubkin, Forum Past Chair

n invited FHP session called of different nuclei and why there were “Remembering Enrico Fermi,” some mysterious stability numbers.” Aorganized and chaired by James At the end of her talk, Fermi said, “‘Is Cronin (), was a there any indication of spin-orbit cou- highlight of the joint APS-AAPT meet- pling?’ The bell rang and that was the ing in Washington in mid-February end of the seminar.” A few weeks later (the “April” meeting). The audience of she gave a second seminar, “and that several hundred, in the largest room was the shell model.” At this second available at the meeting, appeared seminar Lee initially , “ ‘No, touched by the reminiscences of the not again,’ because the first [seminar] three speakers, all of whom worked was totally confusing. But the second for Fermi at Chicago. Cronin was a seminar was totally different. Maria graduate student at Chicago 1951-55. started with Fermi’s question and the He edited a book that grew out of a Enrico Fermi in the classroom, date unknown. magic numbers worked out magically. 2001 Chicago meeting commemorating Photo by Samuel Goudsmit, courtesy of Emilio This then led to the 1963 the hundredth anniversary of Fermi’s Segrè Visual Archive, Goudsmit Collection. in Physics.” birth, Fermi Remembered (University of Chicago Press, 2004). In his intro- That December Fermi and his fam- ductory remarks at the session, Cro- ily left for Stockholm, where nin said that when Fermi moved to he received the 1938 Nobel Prize for Chicago immediately after the end of Physics. Instead of returning to Italy, World War II, his passion was to reach the Fermis arrived in New York on 2 the highest energy possible. The mid- January 1939. When arrived 1950s began the golden age of particle in New York two weeks later, Laura physics. and Enrico Fermi met him at the dock. The first talk, by T. D. Lee (Colum- Although Bohr had been told by Otto bia University), was called “Fermi at Frisch about the experiments of Otto Columbia and Reminiscence of Chica- Hahn and Fritz Strassmann, the theory go Days.” Lee said that when the first of fission by Frisch and Lise Meitner, anti-Semitic law was passed in Fascist and Frisch’s experimental confirmation, Fermi with Maria Goeppert-Mayer. Photo Italy in 1938, Fermi wrote to George Bohr did not mention the remarkable courtesy of AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archive, Pegram, then chair of the Columbia discovery to Fermi. On 20 January, Lee Goudsmit Collection. physics department. Fermi reminded said, returned from Princ- Pegram that when they had met a eton, where he had just learned of the Fermi once asked Lee the approxi- couple of years earlier, Pegram asked fission discovery from Bohr. It was a mate temperature of the Sun at its cen- if Fermi would be interested in coming Saturday morning and the Pupin Phys- ter. Lee replied, “Ten million degrees.” to Columbia. When Pegram promptly ics Lab was deserted, but Lamb was Fermi asked “How do you know?” Lee offered him a job, Fermi cabled his eager to spread the big news. Fermi told him he had looked it up. Fermi acceptance. Then Fermi wrote again arrived after lunch, and Lamb told asked if he’d verified the number to ask if Pegram knew of any job him. Fermi quickly disappeared to his and Lee replied, “It’s really compli- opportunities in the US for other out- lab, realizing that there was a much cated. It’s not so easy to integrate these standing young Italian , and easier way to observe fission. On 25 equations.” Fermi suggested that Lee mentioned Emilio Segrè (who was in January, Fermi and several colleagues build a huge specialized slide rule Berkeley on a fellowship); , succeeded. that would enable the solution of two Guilio Racah, Ugo Fano, and Franco After World War II, in 1946, Fermi radiative transfer equations, one that Rasetti. Fermi described each person’s moved to Chicago. That same year involved the 18th power of the tem- expertise, marital status, and number Lee arrived from China on a fellow- perature, and the other that involved of children. Fermi was “very humane,” ship. “One of the most precious events the reciprocal of temperature to the Lee said. “His foremost worries were in Chicago was in 1948 when Maria 6.5th power. Over the next few weeks about his colleagues and their survival Goeppert-Mayer gave an interesting Lee built a slide rule that was 6.7 feet if they remained in Italy.” but somewhat confused talk on levels long, and carried out the necessary

4 Volume XI, No. 2 • Spring 2010 • History of Physics Newsletter Remembering Enrico Fermi

Continued from page 4

integration. “It was great fun,” he said. consultant known as ‘the Pope.’” If The second talk was by Richard anyone needed to know the answer Garwin (IBM Research Labs), whose to a calculation he’d show them how topic was “Working with Fermi at Chi- to do it, “or in extremis, provide an cago and Los Alamos.” Garwin came answer.” During the summer of 1950 to Chicago in 1947. After a few months Garwin shared an office with Fermi, of course work he got up the courage where people would come to talk to to ask Fermi if he could help in Fer- him. mi’s lab. Fermi had a machine shop in One visitor was , his lab, including a lathe and a cutting who suggested that with all the explo- saw. Although he had great respect for sions taking place at the Nevada Test the technicians in the central machine Site, he could put a detector under- shop, he felt they were too fastidious, ground and detect antineutrinos from Enrico Fermi. Photo by Samuel Goudsmit, and would take ten times as long to the of fission products. A courtesy of Emilio Segrè Visual Archive. make something ten times more accu- 17-kiloton would be rate than was needed. When the new made with a few kilograms of uranium Back at Chicago, Garwin recalled, Chicago cyclotron started working and yield neutrinos only from fission (a Chicago faculty mem- the beams needed to be extracted and products. Fermi responded that it ber) dropped by with his latest enthu- targets positioned. In the cyclotron, would be preferable to use one of the siasm. Fermi remarked, “That’s the rather than having the targets mounted modern reactors that burned several only monomaniac I know with more on probes, Fermi devised a trolley cart kilograms of uranium each day. “So than one mania.” that moved along the cyclotron rim. Fermi’s suggestion led Reines to do The Fermi memorial session’s last The cart carried a small copper or car- the more feasible experiment—at a speaker was Fermi’s last graduate bon target that could be flipped into reactor—for which Fred received the student—Jerome Friedman (MIT), and out of the beam. Nobel Prize in 1995.” whose title was “A Student’s View of Garwin recalled, “Among my At Los Alamos Fermi was con- Fermi.” Friedman recalled that when regrets is one already cited by T. D. cerned with many things, includ- he entered the University of Chicago When I joined the faculty in 1949 after ing the Taylor instability. “It’s a very in 1950, “I had no credentials in phys- I got my PhD, I was given my own important phenomenon in nuclear ics.” During his short time in Chicago, laboratory at the Institute of Nuclear weaponry and other fields,” Garwin Friedman said, Fermi led the group Studies.” Garwin was busy doing said. Fermi tried a two-dimensional that discovered the so-called (3,3) reso- experiments on the betatron and plan- model, in which a broad tongue of nance, which has isotopic spin 3/2 and ning experiments for the cyclotron. fluid moves into dense material and a spin 3/2. Fermi did not jump to con- “One day Fermi came in (I’d missed the narrow tongue moves in the opposite clusions, and “it took him some time seminar) and in typical fashion asked direction and falls. He solved the prob- to accept its validity. It was the first if I’d thought about including spin- lem numerically but wasn’t satisfied indication of substructure in the nucle- orbit interactions in the calculation of with the solution. One afternoon, John on.” His work also served to confirm wave functions and energy levels. So von Neumann came by, saw Fermi charge symmetry and isotopic spin I thought about that.” Two weeks later and asked what he was doing. Von conservation in the strong interaction. Fermi came in and asked Garwin if he Neumann returned fifteen minutes When Friedman passed the PhD had made any progress on the idea later and wrote on the blackboard how exam, he summoned all his courage and Garwin said, “None. So he said to approach the problem analytically. and asked Fermi if he could do his he’d talk to Maria Mayer about it. I’d Fermi leaned against his doorpost and PhD research under Fermi’s supervi- simply lacked the courage to put down said, “That man makes me feel I know sion. “He said, ‘Yes.’ I was overjoyed, what I was doing, pick up a new chal- no mathematics at all.” and he didn’t even ask about my lenge, where, in fact, I would not have “Fermi used to say he could solve qualifications.” On a few occasions done as well as Maria.” only six problems, but he was very Friedman was invited to parties at Because Chicago paid faculty sala- good at transforming any other prob- the Fermi home. “His students were ries only nine months in a year, Fermi lem into one of those six.” His crude his extended family. Often there were suggested that Garwin consult for approach found the narrow tongue parlor games; he was very competitive Los Alamos in the summer. Fermi proceeding into vacuum with a large and clearly liked to win.” had gone to Los Alamos in Fall 1944 amplitude and uniform acceleration at “Fermi was a cheerful man with a and worked there through 1945. “He 8/7 g. In the more rigorous analytical good sense of humor,” Friedman said. wasn’t in charge of any development calculation that he did with von Neu- Fermi enjoyed the annual Christmas group, although there was an F group mann, the limiting acceleration was party where the students poked fun named for Fermi. He was a treasured still 8/7 g. “Fermi had it very right.” Continued on page 13

Volume XI, No. 2 • Spring 2010 • History of Physics Newsletter 5 Secrecy and Physics

By Dan Kleppner, Forum Chair

eter Galison’s talk “Secrecy and The Atomic Energy act of 1946, national security and democracy, and Physics” described how anteced- the McMahon Act, established secrecy questions of how information can flow, Pents of modern secrecy can be policy for nuclear issues. Section 9 of be sequestered, or be shared. observed in the censorship practices the Act, as submitted to Congress in Steven Aftergood of the Federa- that accompanied the growth of Czar- 1945, held that information not specifi- tion of American Scientists, Project on ist and European newspapers during cally classified could not be withheld. Government Secrecy, in a talk entitled the 19th century. At that time the But the law, as signed by President “Secrecy and Physicists: Intersections censorship focused on political and Truman the following year, had been of Science and National Security,” diplomatic issues rather than techni- modified by Section 10, declaring that described a 1994 Science article by cal ones. Galison showed examples information was to be barred unless it Glenn Seaborg called “Secrecy Runs of Russian newspapers that had been was specifically declassified, introduc- Amuck.” Seaborg’s alleged that the censored with black paint, known as ing the concept that information is Department of Energy censored his “caviar.” Censorship was so common “born secret.” There has been an ongo- personal diary, removing material that Freud saw manifestations of it in ing struggle to find the appropriate totally unrelated to national security. psychological disorders. balance between the level of secrecy His larger point asserted that the needed to ensure security, and the national security system had “run information exchanges necessary for amuck.” Since Seaborg’s article the technical and scientific progress. This secrecy system has considerably tension can cause mistrust between expanded. In 1994, 3.5 million objects parties. Galison sees such mistrust as were classified. In a recent year, 23 the underlying reason for the establish- million objects were classified. Such ment of Livermore Labs as a separate classification costs nearly ten billion national laboratory to carry forward dollars per year. Nevertheless, After- the H-bomb project. good does not believe that secrecy has Despite emphasis on technical “run amuck,” at least not in the world matters, after WWII secrecy has still of physics. There has been a notable been invoked to avoid embarrassment. declassification of material in the past Galison illustrated with the Reynolds two decades, particularly for inertially case of the 1948 crash of a B-29 that confined fusion. Peter Galison (left) and Dan Kleppner carried several civilian scientists. The (right) at the “Secrecy in Physics” session. victims’ families sued the government Photo courtesy of George Zimmerman. on grounds of incompetence. The case ended in a 1953 Supreme Court rul- At the time of the Great War, when ing, which favored the Air Force claim letters were the chief medium for shar- that matters of secrecy prevented them ing ideas, censorship was widespread. from sharing the accident report. The Letters were often marked “open” suit was dropped. By 2000, with the so that the censors would not dam- release of certain documents related age them. Such pervasive censorship to the crash, it was found out that the forced intellectuals to live under a government’s claim had no merit, and cloud of oppression. When the United the case was pursued in 2003, when States entered the war it passed a family members of the original plain- Sedition Act to suppress opposition tiffs petitioned the Supreme Court to to the war, and an Act to re-open the case. That petition was prevent activities counter to U.S. inter- denied, resulting in new complaint ests. Neither Act, however, was aimed filed in federal district court. at technical information. Secrecy that Finally, Galison spoke briefly about Glenn Seaborg (right). Photo courtesy of focused on technical information, making the film Secrecy, which was Emilio Segrè Visual Archive. rather than political issues or diplo- shown at the meeting. Making a film matic embarrassments, was a product about topics one cannot talk about of World War II with its nuclear and presents obvious challenges! The film projects. addresses the problem of balancing

6 Volume XI, No. 2 • Spring 2010 • History of Physics Newsletter Secrecy and Physics

Continued from page 6

The landscape of secrecy includes and technology for national security. their programs and are often unwilling broad categories of restricted but Although the study was unclassified, to let others have a look. Feedback is not classified information, including the Pentagon has refused to release best provided by review committees. SUTI (sensitive unclassified techni- the report on the grounds that it is However, members of review commit- cal information), UCNI (unclassified “deliberative.” Another case of official tees are often part of a small communi- controlled nuclear information) and secrecy interfering with public debate ty—or part of the program itself. Such more than 100 other categories. In concerns a series of studies by the a practice contradicts James Madison’s three years these will be replaced by Department of Energy on the costs admonition that “No man should be a single category, Controlled Unclas- and risks of nuclear disarmament. a judge in his own cause.” Happer sified Information, or CUI. President The Federation of Atomic Scientists is contrasted the successful operation of Obama, in Executive Order 3526, actively concerned with disarmament, the nation’s two weapons laboratories includes two references to classified but has been denied permission to that benefit from independent and information policy on scientific and see the studies. The Defense Technical “vigorous” review by the competing technical matters. One broad category Information Center announced last fall laboratory, with failures in Department requires that information may be clas- that it would offer a portal for provid- of Defense and Central Intelligence sified only if its disclosure could cause ing information on publicly supported Agency programs that lack indepen- damage. The second states that basic fundamental research, but only to clas- dent reviews. He recommended the research not clearly related to national sified users. This seems to conflict with film Secrecy by Peter Galison for elabo- security cannot be classified. A presi- the presidential directive that stipulates ration of these issues. dential directive issued in the Reagan only through national security clas- Happer then turned to a matter of administration requires that the prod- sification can information be restricted. secrecy by non-governmental agenda- ucts of fundamental research shall A final episode that Aftergood driven organizations, citing the New remain unrestricted if possible, and if related concerned a Brazilian physicist York Times’ failure to report the mass they must be controlled the process who, last April, published a 400-page starvation in the Ukraine in the early can only be done by national security volume on the physics of nuclear 1930s and Stalin’s Moscow Trials of classification. explosives. Most of the book is a digest the late 1930s. Happer’s chief concern Aftergood described several recent of the large quantity of public litera- today is the withholding of scientific examples showing how the impact of ture already available on the subject, data with respect to climate change. the government secrecy system ebbs but the author used unclassified com- Tapes from the Climate Research Unit and flows. The Invention Secrecy Act puter models to do numerical simula- of the University of East Anglia that of 1951 asserts the right of the govern- tions of a U.S. . were recently made public provided ment to control disclosure of privately The International Atomic Energy Agen- evidence that data was intentionally generated information. The Act permits cy urged the Brazilian government to withheld from “politically incorrect” any one of several Presidentially- restrict the book. Instead, the govern- groups. This was consistent with Hap- selected governmental agencies to ment defended his right to work, the per’s own experience that skeptical classify patents whenever they believe press took up the case as a tribute scientists who attempted to get climate disclosure would be detrimental to to Brazilian science, and the author change data could be “stiff-armed.” national security. At the end of last became a public hero. Access to the data would permit the year, over 5000 inventions had been William Happer, in his talk “How APS to carry out an independent controlled, including 103 new ones in Much Secrecy?” asserted that, although study on climate change. Happer 2009. The potential conflict between secrecy can be vital, extraordinary care urged the APS to set aside the “main- this law and the First Amendment has is needed to get it right: not too much, stream media” position that it recently not been tested. not too little. From living systems to endorsed and establish an independent Another problem occurs when large technical projects, all systems position based on its own analysis of secrecy interferes with pubic delibera- require feedback to function. However, the data. n tion of scientific issues. Aftergood has secrecy interferes with feedback, result- a pending Freedom of Information Act ing in projects that can “run amuck.” request for information on the list of Happer witnessed examples of this inventions, but there has so far been no throughout his experience as a Jason, response. Last year the Jasons carried and while at the Department of Energy. out an unclassified study on science Program managers are protective of

Volume XI, No. 2 • Spring 2010 • History of Physics Newsletter 7 Origins of Research and Teaching at Selected Physics Departments

By Ronald E. Mickens

n Monday 15 February, the “Though most of Small’s equip- the hosting of the International Physics Forum sponsored an invited ment was lost to war and fire, by the Olympiad, which came to the US for Osession on “The Origins of middle of the nineteenth century a the first time in 1993. Research and Teaching at Selected more modest teaching collection had “In the 1980’s SREL became obso- Physics Departments.” This event been assembled. The Civil War shut lete, and the modern era began with was co-sponsored with the Forum on down the College, and it was slow its replacement by the US Depart- Education and the American Associa- to rebound. At the beginning of the ment of Energy’s Jefferson Lab. As tion of Physics Teachers. The session twentieth century the College became did SREL, the Jefferson Lab benefits was chaired by James Stith, and the a state university and went coed. W&M in myriad ways. After the initial three speakers were Hans von Baeyer Physics continued to be taught at the competition for the site of this (College of William and Mary), War- undergraduate level. In the 1960s, accelerator for , W&M ren Collins (Fisk University), and Jerry soon after Sputnik, an MS physics pro- has continued to play a major role Gollub (Haverford College). A goal of gram was instituted, and the faculty in its life. Faculty, graduate students, these presentations was to allow the grew correspondingly. When nearby and undergraduates are attracted by speakers to highlight the significance NASA/Langley Research Center built it. Following its tradition, though, the of teaching, education, and research the Space Radiation Effects Laboratory department’s research program con- accomplishments of their respective (SREL), with a synchrocyclotron to tinues to be multifaceted. Solid-state physics departments. The material to mimic the solar wind, it was realized physics has acquired an important follow summarizes the three presenta- that the machine could also benefit NMR facility, intermediate energy tions as provided by the individual physics. William and Mary, as the clos- physics has given way to neutrino speakers. est state institution, would take the research, and powerful are used Hans C. von Baeyer spoke on “250 lead in this effort. In short order a in atomic research. Today, 250 years Years of Physics at the College of Wil- PhD program was created, the William later, both the William Small Labora- liam and Mary: 1760 - 2010.” He began Small Physical Laboratory was built to tory and the Jefferson Lab are undergo- by informing us that “the College of house it, and the physics faculty grew ing significant upgrades. The legacies William and Mary was founded in to about 30. To avoid becoming overly of Jefferson and his mentor William 1693 as the second institution of higher specialized, the department was care- Small at the College of William and after Harvard. Physics instruc- fully structured around three major Mary are secure.” tion began in earnest with the arrival research topics (, solid state, The second speaker was Warren of professor of mathematics William atomic & molecular), each with theo- Collins who presented a detailed his- Small of Scotland who also taught retical as well as experimental exper- tory on “80 Years of Physics at Fisk astronomy and Newtonian physics. tise, in addition to accelerator-based University.” The University was estab- In 1760, two hundred and fifty years physics. The latter group established lished in Nashville, TN, by General ago, Thomas Jefferson became Small’s an international reputation in ‘interme- Clinton B. Fisk within six months after student -- an association which he later diate energy physics’ between nuclear the Civil War ended. The first students credited with ‘fixing the destinies’ of and . ranged in age from 7 to 70, but shared his life. From his College in Aberdeen “The Physics Department helped common experiences of slavery and Small brought to the colonies the lec- to lead the development of the Col- poverty – and an extraordinary thirst ture system as well as the use of lec- lege into a small research university for learning. With the sponsorship of ture demonstration apparatus. When by spawning related PhD programs the American Missionary Association, he left Virginia after six years, he took and encouraging the creation of oth- Fisk University was incorporated on along a commission to purchase an ers. At the same time the benefits of 22 August 1867. elaborate collection of instruments in graduate research for undergraduate Elmer Samuel Imes, the second , which was duly sent back to teaching continued to be emphasized. African-American to achieve the PhD America. The Revolution disrupted At William and Mary, for example, in Physics, received a BA degree in instruction, but in 1776 Phi Beta Kappa all physics majors are required to 1903 from Fisk University. About 1910 was founded at William and Mary, and complete a senior research project, he returned to Fisk where he served by 1779 Thomas Jefferson, as Governor usually in collaboration with graduate as an instructor of mathematics and of Virginia, instituted a curriculum students and faculty. Other examples science and completed his master’s reform that included the creation of of the department’s involvement in degree in 1915. That same year, Imes a formal chair of ‘mathematics and physics teaching are the annual REU went to the natural philosophy,’ as physics was program, which has been offered since and began work in the laboratory of then called. its inception by the NSF in 1987, and Harrison M. Randall, designing and

8 Volume XI, No. 2 • Spring 2010 • History of Physics Newsletter Research and Teaching at Selected Physics Departments

Continued from page 8

building high-resolution infrared spec- Beginning in 1953, the Fisk IR scientific article is written each semes- trometers. In 1918, he published his Spectroscopy Lab decided to offer a ter. Students take turns giving weekly dissertation results in The Astrophysical week’s program of lectures and labora- presentations about their chosen field.” Journal. In the two decades after publi- tory experiments to help industrial and Reading about “Physics 10” was an cation, this work was extensively cited governmental scientists learn infrared eye opener to me, as I had assumed in research papers, books, and reviews techniques and the interpretation of that undergraduate research originated on the spectra of diatomic molecules. IR spectra. Fisk held this institute for much later. Imes returned to Fisk in 1929 to more than 50 years and was aided in “I found and looked at some of inaugurate Fisk’s Physics Department this effort by faculty from American these early student papers, dating from and initiate a research program in universities and instrument companies, 1926-30. They were substantial, about infrared (IR) spectroscopy. Imes contin- as well as scientists from government 20 pages each semester. Many included ued some experimental work, but his laboratories. In all, over 3,000 scientists significant experimental work, some- IR spectrometer was not of sufficient were trained during the Fisk Infrared time inconclusive, but appropriate for quality to do world class research, so Institute’s lifetime. the state of physics at the time. All he did not publish any more scientific Since the 1990’s, the Physics showed a substantial mastery of the papers. Department has acquired state-of-the- corresponding literature. The projects After Imes’ death from cancer in art equipment for research in surface from 1926 had titles such as ‘X-Ray 1941, research in IR continued (mainly physics, crystal growth, spectroscopy, Spectra and Atomic Structure,’ ‘Iso- after WWII) through the efforts of and nanomaterials and sensors. In topes and Positive Rays,’ and ‘Exact James R. Lawson and Nelson Fuson. addition to 6 teaching faculty and 10 Determination of Longitude by the Lawson had been Imes’ student at research faculty/staff, there are more Short-Wave Radio Time Signal Meth- Fisk, and he, along with Fuson, all than 20 graduate students and 20 od.’ Sometimes these early research did their doctoral research at Michi- undergraduate students involved in students made mistakes, with occa- gan under Randall. As a result of this the various research programs. sional statements like this one: ‘The close relationship, Lawson was able to Early in the first decade of the 21st positive nucleus is built up of obtain a research IR spectrometer built century, the Fisk-Vanderbilt Master’s- bound together by .’ This especially for Fisk by the Michigan to-PhD bridge program was created. predates the discovery of the neutron, Physics Department’s machine shop. This allowed students to earn the of course. IR research rapidly caught on at MS degree at Fisk and also obtain “It is clear from these reports that Fisk with contributions from Fuson, fast-track admission to a participat- the students from this era had learned Lawson, Marie-Louise Josien (a French ing Vanderbilt PhD program, all with a great deal, and had shown remark- chemist who studied under Jean full funding. Since 2004, the program able ingenuity. These investigations LeComte), and graduate students has attracted 34 students, 30 of them do not seem to have been based on enrolled in the Physics Department’s underrepresented minorities (56% the pre-existing research programs of MS Degree Program. Soon the whole female), with a retention rate of 94%. faculty members, which is surprising IR Research group was publishing The last speaker for the session in view of current practices. Today we their research findings in the Ameri- was Jerry Gollub and his topic was would also provide much better train- can Chemical Society’s and American “Research and Education in Physics ing and preparation before presuming Physical Society’s scientific journals. and Astronomy at Haverford Col- that students might do something Thus, when these Fisk graduate stu- lege.” He began by noting that “the original. dents started reporting their scien- most distinctive feature of Physics “Currently, most Haverford Physics tific results in the Southeastern Sec- and Astronomy at Haverford College students do research or independent tion meetings of the ACS and APS, is the centrality of undergraduate work of some kind, and all present it became clear to the scientific com- research.” According to the 1933 his- senior theses and give departmental munity in the South that they could tory of Haverford by Rufus Jones, a talks about their work. Their writing no longer hold meetings in southern required year-long course devoted is elaborately critiqued, and must be hotels that would not serve blacks. to student research in physics was rewritten until a professional standard One consequence of this situation founded in 1920. “Each student picks is achieved. Sample titles of senior was the holding of the 1956 SESAPS a field and a problem capable of solu- theses maybe found at www.Haverford. Annual Meeting at Fisk University. tion with the apparatus available… edu/physics-astro. Fisk’s faculty and students presented The student covers the literature and “Many students publish papers about 30% of the scientific papers, and carries out experimental work to the with faculty mentors, and/or give the meeting’s banquet speaker was extent of about 100 hours each semes- talks at national meetings. In a recent Nobel Prize winner . ter. A detailed report…in the form of a two-year period, 16 students were

Continued on page 15

Volume XI, No. 2 • Spring 2010 • History of Physics Newsletter 9 Forum on the History of Physics: Contributed Papers

By David C. Cassidy

t is not often that Leopold von Ran- -separators at Oak Ridge. Since ke, the 19th century historian of the copper for the wiring was in short sup- IPrussian state, appears prominently ply, it was more expensive than silver. in a paper at an APS meeting. But so it In 1942, the Army requisitioned 14,000 was in Harry Lustig’s personal account tons of silver bullion bars from the U.S. at his announced end of a 15-year Treasury, which were industrially pro- excursion into the history of physics, cessed into wire and wound into huge titled “What I Have Learned in Read- magnet coils. In his unique account, J. D. Jackson (left), photo courtesy of George ing and Writing History of Physics.” Reed reported on his painstaking study Zimmerman. Llewellyn Thomas (right), photo What he has learned began with von of the many documents pertaining to courtesy of Emilio Segrè Visual Archive, Segrè Ranke’s pioneering insistence on the all aspects of the “silver program,” Collection. use of primary documents as the from requisitioning and processing foundation for recreating history “as to restoring the precious metal to the atom, both done before he was 24 it actually was.” Although it is some- Treasury. In an interesting take on and before he received his PhD. As times admissible to speculate about the conservation he found that more metal John David Jackson revealed in his past on the basis of the evidence, it is was actually recovered than was req- paper “Llewellyn Hilleth Thomas: not admissible to tailor an interpreta- uisitioned, apparently because of the An Appraisal of an Unappreciated tion to a preconceived thesis. Lustig’s intense cleaning of the metal-working Polymath,” during his subsequent case in point, which he has closely facilities. He also calculated that more career Thomas, who lived from 1903 studied during the past 15 years, is the energy was expended in producing the to 1992, made many significant contri- intense controversy over Heisenberg uranium bomb than was released in butions across a wide range of other and German fission research during the explosion over Hiroshima. disciplines, including astrophysics, World War II. While deploring the Continuing the uranium theme, molecular physics, accelerator phys- angry denunciations or heroic depic- in 1939 Niels Bohr stunned an audi- ics, computer design, software and tions of Heisenberg in some accounts, ence at the Washington Conference on hardware development, and defense Lustig called for the release of addi- Theoretical Physics with the news that research. Trained at Cambridge and tional documents pertaining to this German researchers had discovered , Thomas arrived at Ohio case that are still withheld by Ameri- . It was the highlight of State University in 1929. He spent the can and British authorities. The audi- the series of annual conferences held at war years at the Ballistic Research Lab- ence celebrated Prof. Lustig’s historical George Washington University during oratory, Aberdeen Proving Grounds, excursion with a standing ovation. the years 1935 to 1947 (except for three then joined IBM’s Watson Scientific Following the document trail on years during the war). Paul Halpern Computing Laboratory and Columbia reported on the history of these con- University until his retirement years, ferences in his paper “The Washington which he spent at North Carolina State Conferences on Theoretical Physics: University. Jackson outlined many of Bringing the Spirit of Copenhagen to Thomas’s other significant but lesser Foggy Bottom.” Inspired by the annual known accomplishments, all of which theoretical physics conferences in lead to an appreciation of Thomas as Copenhagen and other European loca- a consummate physicist and applied tions, after he arrived at GWU in 1934 mathematician. George Gamow established the annual conferences, with the support of the Carnegie Institution. As in Europe, problems in nuclear and quantum physics were high on the agenda, and Harry Lustig. Photo courtesy of George Bohr ’s several appearances always Zimmerman galvanized the meetings. The meetings ceased as the need for such thematic the other side of the war, Cameron events declined and Gamow ’s atten- Reed spoke on “Bullion to B-fields: tion turned to cosmology. The Silver Program of the Manhat- Llewellyn Hilleth Thomas is best tan Project.” Huge electromagnets known for his discovery of Thomas were required for the operation precession and for his co-develop- of the “” electromagnetic ment of the Thomas-Fermi statistical Charles W. Clark. Photo courtesy of George Zimmerman.

10 Volume XI, No. 2 • Spring 2010 • History of Physics Newsletter Forum on History of Physics: Contributed Papers

Continued from page 10

Among three other biographically his powerful geometric insight and oriented papers, Charles W. Clark imagination; it is now possible to see spoke on “ and the how he brought this to bear on the Birth of Autoionization.” Aside from velocity problem, and how it helped the mystery of Majorana’s disappear- bring him to his non-Euclidean insight. ance in 1938, Clark, speaking for the Minkowski probably wanted to explore three authors of the paper, pointed the topic further before publishing it. out several puzzles regarding the Arnold Sommerfeld published paper treatment of Majorana’s work on auto- A six years after Minkowski’s untimely . He was one of the first to death. The answer to Smith’s original apply quantum to the spec- question is “No:” Minkowski did not troscopy of many-electron atoms. In so change his mind. doing he was the first to solve several In “Twist ‘Til We Tear the House outstanding problems by developing Down: How Clifford Solved the Uni- the theory of autoionization in 1931. verse in 1870,” James Beichler argues Yet references to his work appeared Herman Minkowski, 1915. Photo that British mathematician W. K. Clif- only sporadically in the subsequent courtesy of Emilio Segrè Visual ford had introduced a curved hyper- literature, and the development of Archive, Born Collection. space theory into physics in 1870, long the modern theory of autoionization before similar theories of the early occurred essentially without the benefit Ten years ago Scott Walter discov- 20th century. Clifford and his followers of his prior work. ered in A an error in sign in an equa- developed their curved-space theory Felix T. Smith asked the question tion for the velocity four-vector, but for electromagnetism, which is one “Did Minkowski Change His Mind that error does not contaminate the lec- reason it has been overlooked by most about Non-Euclidean Symmetry in ture’s conclusion about the non-Euclid- historians. Yet because Clifford argued Special Relativity?” We have only three ean geometry of velocity space. Smith’s for the reality of space curvature in published documents on relativity analysis showed the velocity equations electromagnetism, he facilitated the written by Hermann Minkowski, all were incomplete in other ways as acceptance of Einstein’s curved space- within 14 months before his sudden well. Thus the velocity paragraph in time for gravitation, and he may be death on 12 January 1909. The first A seems to have been a very late and regarded as a precursor of modern (A) is the text of a lecture he gave hasty insert, written at the moment unification theories. His theory of to mathematicians at Göttingen on 5 Minkowski was discovering the true “matter as curved space” influenced November 1907. He never published covariant form of the velocity vector, Cartan’s theory and Penrose’s this lecture, although it announced that before he had all the details correct. twistor theory. the world is “in a certain sense a four- But the form of the equations brought In one of two concluding papers, dimensional, non-Euclidean manifold” to him the sudden insight that all this Clarence A. Gall presented a historical and supported that notion by showing was a new case of a mathematically view of the development of Gustav the geometry of relativistic velocity old story, the non-Euclidean geometry Kirchhoff’s black-body radiation distri- space to be non-Euclidean. Only six of Lobachevsky and Bolyai. It appears bution functions. Kirchhoff introduced weeks later he submitted for publica- this new insight came to Minkowski a new function based on emission as tion a long paper (B), containing most very close to the date of the lecture, a decay process that fits the Stefan- of the results in A and much more, and he thought it so important that he Boltzmann and Wien displacement but leaving out any statement about added it to his text even though it was laws exactly. It contradicts the tradi- its non-Euclidean geometric implica- not complete. With this understand- tional assumption that a hotter body tions. The third paper (C) is his most ing, the more mature earlier text of the always emits more intensely than famous, the lecture he presented at a lecture can now be separated from the a colder body for all wavelengths, scientific congress on 21 September less ripened inserted material, and the which is supported by observational 1908. It was devoted to the concept of latter examined on its own. Doing so infrared astronomy. Finally, Jeffrey four-dimensional space-time. It does sheds much light on Minkowski’s cre- Boyd described the ancient emission not mention the non-Euclidean aspect ative process—the rough guess at what and intromission theories of sight, and at all. Historians have long wondered he thinks the form of the result should presented a speculative hybrid theory why Minkowski never published some be, testing it against his other expecta- developed in 1996. n of the most prominent conclusions of tions, new adjustments, while learning his first lecture, those dealing with from the process. In his mathematical non-Euclidean geometry. work, Minkowski was well known for

Volume XI, No. 2 • Spring 2010 • History of Physics Newsletter 11 Manhattan Project

Continued from page 3 its interpretation by Meitner, Frisch, to know not only of the importance choose (anonymously, if they desire) Bohr and Wheeler, the evolution of of the law of conservation of energy one of six statements that most closely the understanding of the role of dif- but also that science and engineering matches their own thoughts. These ferent uranium isotopes in the fission are done by real people who possess range from (paraphrased) “The use of process, the Szilard/Einstein letter, and all the typical human strengths, fears, nuclear weapons against Japan with- the opening of World War II. After dis- motivations, and fallibilities. out prior warning was entirely justi- cussing the establishment of the Man- Grades are established in the usual fied ... ” to “Nuclear weapons are a hattan District, we look at what was ways: I always have tests which are moral abomination....” Responses from done at Oak Ridge, Hanford, and Los multiple choice, short-answer, and 45 students have been collected so Alamos, devote a class to the Trinity fill-in-the-blank questions as well as far. About half of these chose the first test, and then discuss the Hiroshima brief homework assignments where option (use entirely justified, would and Nagasaki missions. In the last students might have to balance reac- have acted in same way as President couple days of class we look at some tions or compute an energy release or Truman), which is followed by about of the effects of nuclear weapons, the the like. On various occasions I have 10 students each for options along the numbers of postwar tests and weap- had them write a 1000-word end-of- lines of the first bomb being justified ons in the world today (these always course reflective summary paper or but allowing more time and warnings surprise students), and what relevant participate in a last-day session where before subsequent ones; and a sort of treaties are in effect. I also take some they get a random question: “What middle-ground default option stating time to give students some direction were you most surprised to learn?” that the ferocity of the war, the loom- on where to look for credible sources “What aspect of the Project would ing post-war geopolitical situation with of material on the Project. (A Google you want to learn more about, and Russia, and the tremendous resources search on “Manhattan Project” yields why?” “Who associated with the Proj- that had been devoted to the project over 3 million hits.) ect would you like to have lunch with made the use of the bombs essentially My goal for the class is that stu- and what would you ask him or her?” a foregone conclusion, beyond any real dents emerge with a correct under- When I did the course for a group of control of any one person. One student standing of the history and science First-Year students in Fall 2009, the opted for the “moral abomination in of nuclear weapons. They should more extended time of a regular term any circumstance” option. appreciate that the development of allowed me to add an extra reading/ There are plenty of books, papers, nuclear weapons was in no sense writing component: each student was websites and videos out there on this “pre-ordained,” and that even many randomly assigned a different book topic. I humbly suggest that a good of the leading figures of the nuclear to read and prepare a report on, with place to start is a Resource Letter of research community at the time were one cycle of submit-revise-resubmit. over 100 sources that I published in skeptical that such weapons could In most cases these were biographical the September 2005 issue of American ever be realized. Students should be works; one obviously cannot get into Journal of Physics. Later this year or able to explain how these weapons technical depth with such a class. The early next I will be publishing a text were developed, how they work, what regular-term incarnation of the class under the Springer imprint titled The problems were overcome in making also permitted more time at the end Physics of the Manhattan Project, which them, how a reactor differs from a to examine weapons effects, postwar will treat the physics of the project at weapon, why implosion is necessary developments, and topics such as the about a junior level. A tentative table for an efficient weapon, and why a CTBT and START talks. of contents can be found at www.man- lump of natural uranium or even a Alma is a small school; I can reach hattanphysics.com. subcritical mass of U-235 sitting on only a tiny number of students with The Manhattan Project is a virtu- a lab bench would be perfectly safe. this material. Since 2002 just over 100 ally open-ended vehicle for teaching Equally important, I always make students have taken the course. Many our students some physics, history, sure to tell them something of the tell me that they find it fascinating political science and sociology, and I lives of the people involved: of Lise and informative; history students encourage readers to think about offer- Meitner fleeing just months in particular seem to enjoy it, but ing something along the lines I have before the discovery of fission, of students come from all disciplines. described. If you are already doing so Enrico Fermi and and Beginning in 2007 I began taking an I would love to hear from you: What others making their way to America, end-of-course survey, asking students has been your experience? In what sort of Oppenheimer’s brilliant, eclectic, to imagine themselves as President of venue to what student population? and ultimately tragic life. For many Truman in the summer of 1945 but What has worked and what hasn’t? n students this may be the only physi- with the benefit of some understand- cal science class that they take during ing of the functioning and effects of their college career, and I want them nuclear weapons, and asking them to

12 Volume XI, No. 2 • Spring 2010 • History of Physics Newsletter Call for Nominations Call for Department Histories Remembering Enrico Fermi for APS Fellowships Continued from previous column Continued from page 5 beautifully written, illustrated, and at senior faculty members. Valentine referenced. Few will have the time to Telegdi, then a junior faculty member, The FHP Nominating Committee, pull together so thorough a history. “had an uncanny ability to imitate chaired by Gloria Lubkin, is charged However, the concern of importance some of the stellar figures in phys- with selecting candidates to stand for is to get it written down, even if the ics. At one Christmas party Val was election to FHP Executive Committee product looks more like a student term enclosed in a huge box with flashing positions. The next election will be paper than a commercially-published lights that represented a computer. It held around the beginning of 2011. tome (one can always make it look was named the Enriac or Fermiac; I The Nominating Committee will meet nicer in the next edition!). As Bartlett don’t remember which. Fermi’s voice over the next several months and wel- and Kraushaar noted in their Introduc- emanated from the box in a very slow, comes suggestions from FHP members, tion, “It was evident that the faculty authoritative manner. This computer including self-nominations. The sug- who joined the Department during was supposed to answer any order of gested candidates must be members the first post-war wave of expansion, magnitude question and did so. Fermi of FHP at the time of nomination. The starting in the 1950s, were retiring and was clearly amused.” positions that must be filled are: were cleaning out their file cabinets At Chicago many speakers visited. (a) Vice-Chair, whose primary and were otherwise disposing of their Fermi would inevitably have many responsibility is to help the Chair-Elect records.” comments and questions. “His ques- develop and arrange FHP sessions at In a letter of 28 September 2009 tions were gentle but sometimes dev- meetings, as well as chairing the FHP that was written to department chairs, astating to the speaker. They usually Fellowship Committee. The Vice-Chair the FHP Executive Committee said started off with, ‘There is something I is expected to become Chair-Elect, encouragingly, “We are not asking do not understand.’ And then it was a Chair, and Past Chair in subsequent department chairs to undertake the problem for the speaker.” years. writing of departmental histories. In the summer of 1954 Fermi went (b) Two At-Large Executive Com- We are asking you to preserve and to Italy, where he became ill. When mittee positions. The At-Large mem- make available historical accounts he returned to Chicago in Septem- bers serve three-year terms and hold of what your department has done ber, he and Friedman waved to each positions on various standing and ad and accomplished. We are also ask- other in the corridor. “I was struck by hoc committees of the forum. ing that you encourage your retiring how gaunt he looked.” The next day Please send suggestions to the FHP faculty to leave a vita and comments Fermi had exploratory surgery and Secretary-Treasurer, Tom Miller, at mil- on their accomplishments, from their was found to have inoperable cancer. [email protected]. perspectives, on their careers. Also Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar told The FHP Bylaws state that if more their future plans. These accounts Friedman that when he and Herbert than 5% of the members (approxi- need not represent a complete history. Anderson visited Fermi at the hos- mately 195 persons) suggest the same The best departmental histories that pital, they were initially at a loss for person, and if that person expresses we have seen represent the gathering words. Fermi sensed their difficulty willingness to serve, their name will of material collected and summarized and put them at ease by asking, “Tell appear on the ballot in addition to by a succession of different authors at me, Chandra. When I die, will I come persons selected by the Nominating different times…The most beneficial back as an elephant?” After that the Committee. n locations for these…histories are likely conversation went smoothly. to be departmental websites. But we After Fermi’s death on 28 Novem- hope that you will also deposit a copy ber 1954, Friedman was asked to Call for Physics in the Niels Bohr Library & Archives… gather together the things in his men- Department Histories and please let us know when you do tor’s office. “I found only about four so.” The NBLA contact person is books, and one was by his boyhood Joe Anderson friend, Enrico Persico. It was clear Has your institution written the Director, Niels Bohr Fermi didn’t need books. He worked history of its physics department and Library & Archive out everything for himself. Over half submitted a copy to the Niels Bohr American Institute of Physics a century later I still look back in awe Library and Archives? As history One Physics Ellipse at this great physicist and remarkable appreciators, it would be sadly ironic College Park, MD 20740 - 3843 human being.” n if any physics department’s history [email protected] were lost. (301) 209-3183 We recently received A History of If you have any questions, please the Department of Physics of the Univer- contact Bob Arns, University of Ver- sity of at Boulder 1876-2001, by mont ([email protected]), or George Albert A. Bartlett and Jack J. Kraush- Zimmerman, Boston University (goz@ aar. This impressive book, the size of buphy.bu.edu). n a telephone book of a small city, was

Volume XI, No. 2 • Spring 2010 • History of Physics Newsletter 13 New Books of Note Heisenberg and the Interpretation of : The Physicist as Philosopher By Kristian Camilleri, Cambridge University Press, 2009, 199 pp., $81.00 Quantum Theory at the Crossroads: Reconsidering the 1927 By Guido Bacciagaluppi and , Cambridge University Press, 2009, 532 pp., $126.00

depts of twentieth-century phys- Camilleri care- ics might be forgiven for think- f u l l y t r a c e s Aing that the history of quantum how his ideas mechanics is all wrapped up. After unfolded, dis- all, the origin of the quantum theory e n t a n g l i n g is one of the most celebrated stories t h e m f r o m in physics. The postulations of Planck B o h r ’ s . T h e and Einstein, the invention of Bohr’s r e s u l t i s a atomic model, the steady accumula- m a s t e r f u l tion of spectral data, the breakthrough and enriching into quantum mechanics: this narra- account that tive has been with us since the new d o e s m u c h theory’s authors put it into circulation. to re-compli- And yet there still seems to be infinite cate the story richness waiting to be discovered. A o f q u a n t u m first wave of historical studies came in mechanics and the 1960s through the 1980s, when the the uncertainty treasure troves of the archives were relations. exploited and a round of in-depth Camilleri works through Heisen- not just Heisenberg’s views, but his interviews was analyzed and put to berg’s oeuvre largely chronologically, approach, differed from Bohr’s, giv- work. Now a new wave of studies is analyzing his published papers and ing substance to the familiar idea that opening up new questions. This wave supplementing them with his letters. Heisenberg started his thinking from includes two significant books: one on This is useful for storytelling, and it the theory’s mathematical formal- Heisenberg’s interpretative commit- also helps with analytical clarity. He ism. Along the way, Camilleri shows ments by Kristian Camilleri; and one makes the point stick that Heisenberg’s how to understand important steps in on the famous Solvay Conference on views changed significantly. This is Heisenberg’s reasoning: his strategic quantum theory by Guido Bacciagal- true in the larger sense, as Heisenberg use of observability, his understanding uppi and Antony Valentini. Each takes moved from an early strategic opera- of the wave-particle duality and early us into the interpretative thickets of tionalism (or positivism), via a rethink- matter waves, his “uncertainty” paper the new theory, with a spotlight on ing of Immanuel Kant’s critical philos- (which really deals with the possibility 1925-27, and each rewards its readers ophy, to something Camilleri describes of quantum concepts) and the thought handsomely. as a late-Wittgensteinian “linguistic experiment on the gamma-ray micro- Camilleri, a historian and philoso- turn.” The same point about shifting scope, and his take on Bohr’s notion of pher of science at Melbourne, starts views can be made at a finer level of complementarity. from a thesis that has recently become detail, as Heisenberg’s interpretative Some of these arguments have attractive to historians and philoso- positions changed from 1925 to 1926, already been advanced by other his- phers of science: There is no single 1926 to 1927, 1927 to 1929, and so on. torians and philosophers. Camilleri coherent Copenhagen Interpretation— While this emphasis on Heisen- adds important new insights and or at least there was none in the 1920s. berg’s changeable opinions could makes a case for the whole. He goes Explicating Bohr’s thought has occu- seem like punctiliousness, it is cen- on to explore themes and topics that pied an army of interpreters, with less tral to how Camilleri makes his have received less , includ- than satisfactory results. Camilleri’s case. His Heisenberg is not the late ing Heisenberg’s views on language, book Heisenberg and the Interpreta- Heisenberg, committed to defending which may or may not be taken from tion of Quantum Mechanics takes up an interpretative common ground Bohr. As an important source he points another main architect of the Copen- with Bohr. Rather, he is the work- to Heisenberg’s unpublished philo- hagen Interpretation. Heisenberg’s ing physicist of the 1920s engaged sophical manuscript of 1942 (now interpretative opinions have, strangely with the details of technical problems. translated into English, available at enough, garnered less critical attention. Camilleri neatly demonstrates how http://werner-heisenberg.unh.edu).

14 Volume XI, No. 2 • Spring 2010 • History of Physics Newsletter New Books of Note Research and Teaching at Continued from page 14 Selected Physics Departments Continued from page 9 The result is a manageable-sized brief for the intelligibility of interpreta- book that covers significant terrain. tive positions that were marginalized co-authors of published papers, more Camilleri does not address recent con- after 1927. ’s pilot- than half of our undergraduates. Many troversies over Heisenberg’s role in the wave theory is presented on equal students have won national awards for Third Reich, nor does he take up the footing with Born and Heisenberg’s their work, including Goldwater and whole course of Heisenberg’s physical quantum mechanics and Schrödinger’s Churchill scholarships, Fulbright and theorizing. Rather, we get a focused, wave mechanics—as it was, quite Apker Awards, and (later) NSF Career in-depth account of important issues in plainly, at the conference itself. Bac- Awards. his interpretative engagements. While ciagaluppi and Valentini put par- “Research training is seen by the the overall themes are of general inter- ticular weight on the observation that faculty as important regardless of est, the details of the chapters are writ- de Broglie proposed a multiparticle whether the student aspires to a career ten for specialists, and the references theory, not just a one-electron one (as in scientific research or not. Actual to other historians and philosophers later suggested) and that career choices are broad, including bear this out. his picture was extensively discussed almost all the professions and many at the meeting (contrary to what de neighboring scientific fields. There are Bacciagaluppi and Valentini’s Broglie later recalled). They also argue quite a few prominent astrophysicists Quantum Theory at the Crossroads also that de Broglie had answers to at least and physicists among them. pushes us to rethink familiar tales. The some of the criticisms he encountered, “The Physics and Astronomy cur- focus is the monumental Fifth Solvay so the rejection of the pilot-wave the- riculum supports this emphasis and Conference in 1927, where the most ory was not foreordained. The authors culture of student research. For exam- important interpretative disputes over start from the position that there is no ple, the Advanced Physics Laboratory quantum mechanics were supposedly longer an established interpretation of teaches low noise measurement tech- hashed out. The book is half a trans- quantum mechanics; the pilot wave niques, planning and design of experi- lation of the conference proceedings theory is very much in their sights. ments, sophisticated data analysis, (originally issued in French, perhaps All the same, their account is histori- effective use of library resources, and one reason it has not received ade- cally sensitive, thoroughly grounded, scientific writing. Experiments include quate attention) and half a commen- and conspicuously fair. If it is mainly work on microfluidics, quantum nano- tary on the scientific issues raised there. written for people working on the contacts, quantum dots, and AFM Both authors work on the foundations foundations of quantum theory, its imaging of synthesized nanotubes. of physics, Bacciagaluppi as a philoso- introductory material and some of its “Even first-year students can expe- pher, Valentini as a physicist, and their commentary will be useful for all inter- rience the spirit of investigation, for commentaries are scientifically well- ested general readers. example through a seminar on astro- informed and historically trenchant. It is a real service that Camilleri has physics run as a problem-solving They single-handedly retrieve the 1927 explicated Heisenberg’s thinking with workshop, in which students inves- Solvay Conference from its undeserved such attention and that Bacciagaluppi tigate challenging questions such as: fate, of always being gestured at but and Valentini have brought the 1927 ‘Why is there a maximum mass of a rarely understood. Solvay Conference back to light. These neutron star, what is this mass, and Bacciagaluppi and Valentini make books go a long way toward some- what happens when it is exceeded?’ good on the claim that there was much thing that has only recently seemed They learn about galactic structure, more to the conference than what it is plausible—disassembling the appear- collapsed stars, and black holes, going usually remembered for—the famous ance of early consensus around the far beyond what first year students Bohr-Einstein debate. The mythology interpretation of quantum mechanics. normally do.” of that exchange, which took place Rooting interpretative debates in the “The practice of ‘education through outside the formal conference discus- physics and providing critical his- research’ that began in physics in sions, has crowded out nearly every- torical context, the two books ought 1920 spread throughout the Science thing else. In fact, the conference’s to open up far more interest in the Division by the 1950’s, and eventu- reports and discussions are a remark- consolidation of quantum mechanics. ally to all fields of study at Haverford. able condensation of so much of what Undergraduate research mentoring is was stirring in quantum physics in built into the normal teaching responsi- these exceptionally rich years. The Reviewed by Cathryn Carson bilities of faculty members. As a result, disputes of the day were physical, not the Faculty’s commitment to research just philosophical, as Bacciagaluppi Cathryn Carson is Associate Pro- is as intense as occurs in prominent and Valentini’s commentary makes fessor of History and Director of the graduate institutions, and the focus on plain. And they were not resolved in Office for History of Science and Tech- independent scholarship attracts many the simple triumph of a Copenhagen nology at the University of , talented students to the College.” n Interpretation. Here the book’s larger Berkeley. She is author of Heisenberg in ambitions come into play. the Atomic Age: Science and the Public Along with much else, the book is a Sphere (Cambridge, 2010). n

Volume XI, No. 2 • Spring 2010 • History of Physics Newsletter 15 Forum on History of Physics American Physical Society One Physics Ellipse College Park, MD 20740

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