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Physical Sciences Forum (PSF) Established at the History of Science Society (HSS) by Catherine Westfall

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Physical Sciences Forum (PSF) Established at the History of Science Society (HSS) by Catherine Westfall HistoryNEWSLETTER Physics A FORUM OF THE AMERICAN PHYSICALof SOCIETY • VOLUME XII • NO. 1 • FALL 2012 News of the Forum: Physical Sciences Forum (PSF) established at the History of Science Society (HSS) By Catherine Westfall The Physical Sciences Forum (PSF) was recently formed as part of the History of Science Society. The general aim of the PSF is to further scholarship in the history of the physical sciences as broadly understood, including but not limited to: physics; earth, space, and atmospheric science; astronomy; and materials science. It will help forge a more coherent community for those with a core specialty in these sub-fields with a particular emphasis on developing the connections linking these sub-fields and exploring their resonance with wider scholarship. The PSF met for the first time at the November 2012 HSS meeting in San Diego. Several FHP members were instru- mental in seeing the PSF come to life. Catherine Westfall, who was elected chair, and Don Howard helped organize the group, and Peter Pesic was an enthusiastic attendee who helped spread the word about the new group. Westfall appointed a steering committee that includes two other FHP friends—the head of AIP’s Center for the History of Physics, Greg Good, and University of Minnesota graduate student Joe Martin, who presented a paper at the Pais Prize session at the 2012 April meeting and organized a panel session at the 2013 March meeting. At the meeting those assembled laid out three plans for 2013, and identified committees to implement each plan. Greg Good is spearheading the effort for an annual meet- ing, the first to be held in spring 2013, that will provide an Physical Sciences Forum Chair Catherine Westfall. additional forum for early career scholars on the history of the physical sciences. The PSF also plans to host a session at the November 2013 History of Science Society meeting in Boston. Don Howard, Suman Seth, and Amy Fisher will plan this session. The meeting will also feature a distinguished In This Issue lecture PSF-sponsored by PSF given by Peter Galison. David Kaiser arranged the lecture, with encouragement from Seth March/April Meeting Sessions 2 and Westfall. For more information on PSF, contact Catherine Westfall, [email protected]. Manhattan Project Literature 3 Complementing the Forum will be a new Humanities and Social Sciences Net (H-Net) list, which will serve as a communication channel providing announcements, calls New Books of Note 5 for papers, book reviews, and job postings in addition to promoting discussion about current research and the state Officers and Committees 6 of the field. For further information on H-Net, contact Joe Martin, [email protected]. FHP-Sponsored Sessions at the 2013 March and April Meetings March Meeting FHP Sessions: “Bringing the Physical Review into “A transformational year in physics: Baltimore, Maryland the Digital Age” 1932” Monday–Friday, March 18–22 Mark Doyle Charles W. Clark, Joseph Reader Session B10: Celebrating 100 Years of “Physical Review: a family of “Discovery and development of x-ray Physical Review at APS journals” diffraction” Chair: Don Howard, University of Gene Sprouse Yeuncheol Jeong, Ming Yin, Timir Datta Notre Dame Room: 309 Session M9: A History of Physics “Latest developments on Monday, March 18, 2013 in Industry followed by Panel documentary film ‘The State of the 11:15am–2:15pm Discussion Unit: The Kilogram’” Chair: Joseph Martin, University of Amy Young “In the Beginning...” Minnesota at Mimmeapolis Martin Blume Room: 308 Session S50: A Staged Reading of the Wednesday, March 20, 2013 Play: Farm Hall “The American Reception of the 8:00–11:00am Playwright: David C. Cassidy, Hofstra Quantum as Seen by the Physical University Review, 1900-1927” “Commercial Scholarship: Spinning Room: Holiday Ballroom 4 Robert P. Crease Physics Research into a Business Wednesday, March 20, 2013 Enterprise” 8:00–9:30pm “’Your Most Distinguished Orville Butler Contributor’: Einstein and the April Meeting FHP Sessions: Physical Review” “A Place for Materials Science: Denver, Colorado Daniel Kennefick University of Pennsylvania’s Laboratory for Research on the Saturday–Tuesday, March 13–16 Structure of Matter” Brittany Shields Session C6: Maria Goeppert Mayer: The 50th Anniversary of Her Nobel “Dad’s in the Garage: Santa Barbara Prize The Forum on History of Physics of Physicists in the Long 1970s” Chair: Paul Halpern the American Physical Society pub- Cyrus Mody Room: Governor’s Square 15 lishes this Newsletter biannually at Saturday, April 13, 2013 http://www.aps.org/units/fhp/newslet- “Industrial Physics—Southern 1:30–3:18pm ters/index.cfm. If you wish to receive California Style” a printed version of the Newsletter, Stuart Leslie “Maria Goeppert Mayer’s Work on please contact the editor. Each 3-year Beta-decay and Pairing, and Its volume consists of six issues. Panel Discussion: “Perspectives on Relevance Today” the History of Industrial Physics” Stephen Moszkowski The articles in this issue represent the Joseph Martin views of their authors and are not “Maria Goeppert Mayer and the necessarily those of the Forum or APS. Session N32: International Physics Nobel Prize” Programs and History of Physics Karen Johnson Editor Sponsoring Units: FIP FHP Robert P. Crease Chair: Gloria Lubkin, Physics Today “Remembrances of Maria Goeppert Department of Philosophy Editor Mayer and the Nuclear Shell Model” Stony Brook University Room: 340 Elizabeth Baranger Stony Brook, NY 11794 Wednesday, March 20, 2013 [email protected] 11:15am–12:25pm Session N1: A Staged Reading of the (631) 491-6361 Play: And the Sun Stood Still: A Play “Fulbright Opportunities in the about Nicolaus Copernicus Deputy Editor Physical Sciences” Playwright: Dava Sobel Catherine Westfall Katrin DeWindt Room: Governor’s Square 15 [email protected] Sunday, April 13, 2013 “Revisiting the Bohr Atom 100 Years 7:30–9:00pm Book Review Editor Later” Michael Riordan Ernst Wall [email protected] Continues on page 4 2 Volume XII, No. 1 • Fall 2012 • History of Physics Newsletter A Brief Guide to Manhattan Project Literature by Cameron Reed he Manhattan Project and its legacies continue to Tprovide fertile ground for analysis by scientists, historians, and cultural observers alike. Rec- ognition of the Project’s pivotal role in twentieth-century history is clearly indicated by the fact that in a 1999 Newseum survey, the top- ranked news stories of the century for both the public and journalists were those concerning the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Naga- saki and the end of World War II. Given the historical signifi- cance of the Project it is not sur- prising that it has spawned a vast literature: a recent Google search using the key phrase “Manhattan Project” returned over 90 million hits. While many of the sources that turn up are accurate and well- prepared, many more are of dubi- ous quality or utterly irrelevant to serious study of the Project. Whether was issued in August 1945 and is still Rhodes, R.: The Making of the Atomic one is a casual reader, a student pre- worth reading. Known as the Smyth Bomb (Simon and Schuster, New paring a class project, a physicist inter- Report, it is readily available online. For York, 1986). ested in technical details, or a historian professional historians, the volumes by researching organizational or sociologi- Jones and Hewlett & Anderson are still Smyth, H. D.: Atomic Energy for Mil- cal issues, it is difficult to know where foundational standards, extensively itary Purposes: The Official Report to begin. footnoted to original Manhattan Engi- on the Development of the Atomic In this article I offer a brief survey neer District documents. For a shorter Bomb under the Auspices of the Unit- of sources on the Project. My intent survey, a Department of Energy history ed States Government, 1940-1945 to give a highly-selective list of a few of the Project by Frank Gosling can be (Princeton University Press, 1948). solid starting places under each of recommended; do a search on DOE/ four headings: general survey-level MA-0002 and it will not take you long Biographical works works, biographical works, technically- to locate a downloadable copy. The outstanding personalities of the oriented works, and websites. Readers Project were the physicist J. Robert seeking a more extensive listing should Gosling, F. G.: The Manhattan Proj- Oppenheimer and Manhattan Engineer consult my annotated bibliographies ect: Making the Atomic Bomb (U.S. District commander General Leslie R. on the Project which were published in Department of Energy, 2001). DOE/ Groves. Material on Oppenheimer’s life the September 2005 and February 2011 MA-0002. abounds. Bird and Sherwin’s volume editions of American Journal of Physics. covers Oppenheimer’s life in detail Hewlett, R. G. and Anderson, O. E.: and is likely to become the defini- Survey-level sources A History of the United States Atomic tive biography. Abraham Pais and The outstanding synoptic survey of the Energy Commission. Vol. 1: The New Robert Crease appealingly combine Project is Richard Rhodes’ The Making World, 1939/1946 (Pennsylvania physics and personal reminiscences of the Atomic Bomb. While it contains State University Press, 1962). and examine Oppenheimer’s post- some material that is tangential to the war service on numerous government main story, Rhodes’ descriptions of the Jones, V. C.: United States Army in committees. David Cassidy integrates physics, people, and places involved are World War II. Special Studies. Man- Oppenheimer’s pre-war physics into engaging and accurate. hattan: The Army and the Atomic the growth of American physics in The first official government pub- Bomb (Center of Military History, the 1920’s and 1930’s, which set the lication on the Project, Henry Smyth’s United States Army, Washington, stage for the Project. Robert Norris’ Atomic Energy for Military Purposes, 1985).
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