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Interview with Marshall Cohen MARSHALL H. COHEN (1926- ) INTERVIEWED BY SHELLEY ERWIN November 1996, January-March 1997, and February 1999 1979 ARCHIVES CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Pasadena, California Subject area Astronomy Abstract Interview with Marshall H. Cohen, Caltech Professor of Astronomy, emeritus, by Shelley Erwin in six sessions and a supplement, 1996-1997, and 1999. He talks about his youth, family background, and education, and his early interest in electrical gadgets; wartime work for Westinghouse; higher education at Ohio State University: bachelor’s degree, electrical engineering, 1948; PhD in physics, 1952. Reminiscences of the Ohio State Antenna Lab and Vic Rumsey, 1952- 1954. Following appointment at Cornell in electrical engineering, Cohen describes his transition to the new field of radio astronomy. Recalls early participants in the field: J. Greenstein, F. Whipple, M. Ryle, B. Lovell, R. Hanbury Brown, E. G. Bowen, J. Bolton, P. Wild, W. Christiansen; British and Australian competition in interferometry; Caltech’s early entry in the field. Brief interlude recalls Richard Feynman both at Cornell and later at Caltech. Recalls establishment of National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), Green Bank, West Virginia; later sites in New Mexico. Cohen’s involvement with http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechOH:OH_Cohen_M ionospheric physics and building of Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico. Recalls scientific work and political battles over Arecibo; colleagues E. Salpeter, T. Gold, B. Gordon. Cohen’s move to UC San Diego, 1966, and soon after, recruitment to Caltech, 1968. He recalls the developments of the 1960s: first US interferometer in Owens Valley; competition for buildings very large arrays; the Greenstein decadal committee (1970). Administrative information Access The interview is unrestricted. Copyright Copyright has been assigned to the California Institute of Technology © 2000, 2018. All requests for permission to publish or quote from the transcript must be submitted in writing to the University Archivist and Head of Special Collections. Preferred citation Cohen, Marshall H. Interview by Shelley Erwin. Pasadena, California, November 14 and 26, 1996, January 17 and 23, and February 27, 1997, and February 10, 1999. Oral History Project, California Institute of Technology Archives. Retrieved [supply date of retrieval] from the World Wide Web: http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechOH:OH_Cohen_M Contact information Archives, California Institute of Technology Mail Code 015A-74 Pasadena, CA 91125 Phone: (626)395-2704 Fax: (626)793-8756 Email: [email protected] Graphics and content © 2018 California Institute of Technology. http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechOH:OH_Cohen_M CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ARCHIVES ORAL HISTORY PROJECT INTERVIEW WITH MARSHALL H. COHEN BY SHELLEY ERWIN PASADENA, CALIFORNIA Copyright © 2000, 2018 by the California Institute of Technology http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechOH:OH_Cohen_M Cohen–ii TABLE OF CONTENTS INTERVIEW WITH MARSHALL H. COHEN Session 1 1-16 Youth and early education: growing up in New England and New Jersey; family background in Warsaw and Lithuania (Vilna). Early interest in electrical gadgetry. More family history. High school graduation, Baltimore City College, 1943. First job at Westinghouse testing gun-laying radar. Enlistment in Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP); discharged 1946. College at Ohio State; bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in two years; continuation for PhD in physics, 1952. Work at Ohio State Antenna Laboratory under V. Rumsey (1952-1954). J. Kraus. Marriage 1948. 16-22 Transition to radio astronomy. Cornell appointment in electrical engineering (1954). Beginnings of radio astronomy as a discipline. Early participants: J. Greenstein, F. Whipple, M. Ryle, B. Lovell, R. Hanbury Brown, E. G. Bowen, J. Bolton, P. Wild, W. Christiansen. DuBridge and Bacher at Caltech. Burrows at Cornell. Caltech’s early involvement. Competition between English (Ryle) and Australians in interferometry, radio sources surveys. Australian and English prominence in the field; other participants. Session 2 23-24 Reminiscences of Richard Feynman at Cornell and later at Caltech. 24-28 American initiative to get into radio astronomy (the joint Caltech-Carnegie conference, 1954); origins of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO); comparison with National Optical Astronomy Observatory (Kitt Peak/NOAO). Selection of Green Bank, West Virginia, as NRAO headquarters; political considerations; later expansion to New Mexico sites. 28-39 Solar radio astronomy projects; first attempts at interferometry. Origins of the Arecibo telescope in ionospheric physics. Comparison with Jodrell Bank telescope (England). Site selection and construction at Arecibo, Puerto Rico (1960-61). Paris sabbatical and return to Arecibo for one year (1963). Initial problems; range of work possible, including interplanetary scintillations, with E. Salpeter and others. Battle between T. Gold and B. Gordon over control of Arecibo. 39-44 Move from electrical engineering to radio astronomy at Cornell. H. Booker and starting up of new department at UC San Diego, 1965. Move to San Diego, 1966. Recruitment and move to Caltech (1968). http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechOH:OH_Cohen_M Cohen–iii 44-47 Competition for building very large arrays; first interferometer in US at Owens Valley (90-foot interferometer); planned eight-element array, OVA [Owens Valley Array]; A. Moffet and dealings with National Science Foundation (NSF). National Academy of Sciences’ decadal review committees; the Greenstein Committee (1970) and the death of OVA. Session 3 48-67 Beginning of VLBI [Very Long Baseline Interferometry], 1965; technological innovations necessary to its operation. Early discussion of feasibility with K. Kellermann (CIT PhD 1963); also B. Clark, D. Jauncey, C. Bare. Other VLBI groups (Canada, MIT); early experiments, beginning spring 1967. Rumford Prize (1971) shared with twenty people. Verification of size of very small, very distant objects—quasars, galactic nuclei. International collaboration. Session 4 68-77 Arrival at Caltech, summer 1968; early work on Owens Valley Array. Greenstein Committee panel on radio astronomy (1970); competing projects for the VLA [Very Large Array] from Caltech, NRAO and MIT; NRAO plan adopted, to be located in Socorro, New Mexico. Differences in the culture of radio versus optical astronomy. Later awarding of VLBA [Very Long Baseline Array] to NRAO. Owens Valley Millimeter Array and work of A. Readhead. 77-86 Changeover to optical astronomy; work at Palomar and Keck. Discovery of superluminal motion through VLBI; also superluminal expansion (1971). Rumford Prize. Competition between VLBI groups; competitive attitudes of some radio astronomers, including B. Burke (MIT) and I. Shapiro (MIT, later Harvard); also F. Zwicky. Session 5 87-101 History of VLBI. Organizational challenges associated with networking multiple telescopes. Case of G. Stanley at Owens Valley. Informality of early organization; formation of Network Users’ Group (NUG). Improvements, both organizational and technological, over the years. Move toward formal consortium; improvement in standards. Replacement of VLBI consortium by VLBA, 1994. European consortium (EVN) run along more formal lines. Other foreign VLBI participants: Australia, Japan, China. 101-104 Differences in scientific directions between US and European networks. Scientific results of VLBI in astronomy, geodesy and astrometry. Main astronomy findings: tiny size of radio sources; superluminal motion and its implications for cosmology; discovery of molecular clouds and other galactic phenomena. Impact of radio astronomy in general. http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechOH:OH_Cohen_M Cohen–iv Session 6 105-118 Owens Valley Millimeter Array: built by R. Leighton and A. Moffet (1970s). Problems with NSF, firing of Moffet (1980) by R. Vogt (then PMA [Physics, Math and Astronomy Division] chairman); Vogt assumes directorship. History of OVRO funding and management. Correlator technology; development of Caltech’s own five-station correlator (begun 1972); later Block II and III broadband correlators shared with JPL; assuming management of project, fifteen-year time span; eventual success as world’s biggest correlator. PMA division problems with millimeter array translate to lack of support for correlator. 118-126 Push for dedicated VLB array. Caltech and JPL proposal, later modified. Project finally awarded to NRAO. Diminishing opportunities to work at and with telescopes. Change of direction to optics and polarimetry. Contrast between optical and radio astronomers. 126-129 Women in astronomy, Caltech and elsewhere; Sandra Faber at Santa Cruz, Andrea Dupree at Harvard. Intense competition for jobs in astronomy in general. 129-134 Comments on M. Goldberger’s presidency; conflict with Vogt as provost. PMA division chairmen; contrast of Vogt and E. Stone. Current projects, including piano lessons. Supplement 135-150 Discussion of postdocs, beginning at Cornell (1954). K. Akebane at Cornell. D. Harris, E. Gunderman and H. Hardebeck on interplanetary scintillations, first at Arecibo, then Caltech. D. Jauncey and L. Sharp in VLBI at Cornell. NSF postdocs at Caltech on VLBI, many foreign: R. Schilizzi (Australia), P. Wilkinson and A. Readhead (England); M. Ewing (MIT); T. Pearson and S. Unwin (England); D. Jones (Cornell); P. Barthel (Holland); J. A. Zensus (Germany); R. Ekers (Australia). More recently, C. Walker and F. Lo (MIT); J. Wrobel (Canada); A Wehrle and
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