Robert Hofstadter Papers SC0426
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http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt458037nx Online items available Guide to the Robert Hofstadter Papers SC0426 Ashley McDonnell Lawyer, Aimee Morgan, & Jenny Johnson This collection was processed with support from the American Institute of Physics' Grants to Archives Program. Department of Special Collections and University Archives January 2012 Green Library 557 Escondido Mall Stanford 94305-6064 [email protected] URL: http://library.stanford.edu/spc Note This encoded finding aid is compliant with Stanford EAD Best Practice Guidelines, Version 1.0. Guide to the Robert Hofstadter SC0426 1 Papers SC0426 Language of Material: English Contributing Institution: Department of Special Collections and University Archives Title: Robert Hofstadter papers creator: Hofstadter, Robert Identifier/Call Number: SC0426 Physical Description: 83.75 Linear Feet(66 boxes) Date (inclusive): 1931-1993 Abstract: This collection contains the papers of former Stanford professor and Nobel Prize winning physicist Robert Hofstadter. Included are lab notebooks and research data; lecture notes and teaching materials; writings, drafts, and reprints; grant proposals; incoming and outgoing correspondence; travel and conference papers; legal papers; biographical and personal materials;clippings; photographs; and a small amount of audiovisual material. The papers cover a wide swath of Hofstadter's career, including his student and postgraduate work at Princeton University; wartime positions at The United States National Bureau of Standards and Norden Laboratory; Stanford research including electron scattering and coronary angiography; and his collaboration with NASA personnel on the Energetic Gamma-Ray Experiment Telescope (EGRET). Arrangement The papers are arranged in four accessions, mirroring how the collection was received. One additional catagory, Oversized Items, was created during processing and consists of large items removed from elsewhere in the collection. Whenever possible, the contents of the collection were left in the order in which they were received. The 2005, 2008, and 2011 accessions each contain several subcategories, which are listed alphabetically within each accession. These categories, most of which repeat across accessions, include awards and honors; biographical materials; clippings; correspondence, KMS Fusion; lecture notes and teaching materials; research; photographs; publications and writings; speeches and presentations; and travel and conferences. The 2008 accession also includes a subcategory of Hofstadter's research files and writings on colleague Felix Bloch. Robert Hofstadter's son, Douglas, provided numerous notes on the contents of folders within the collection. These notes were kept with the folders to which they pertain and are noted in the collection inventory. Immediate Source of Acquisition note The papers were a gift of the family of Robert Hofstadter, 1992, 1995, 2008, and 2011. Information about Access Letters of recommendation in Accession 1995-014 and Accession 2008-003 are restricted. Otherwise the collection is open for research. The collection is stored off site; materials must be requested at least 48 hours in advance of intended use. Ownership & Copyright All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, California 94304-6064. Consent is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner, heir(s) or assigns. See: http://library.stanford.edu/depts/spc/publicationserv/permissions.html. Restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research and educational purposes. Cite As [Identification of item], Robert Hofstadter Papers (SC0426). Department of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif. Biographical/Historical Sketch Robert (Rubvin) Hofstadter was born in New York City, on February 5, 1915. He was one of four children of Polish immigrants, Louis and Henrietta (Koenigsberg) Hofstadter. Hofstadter was educated in New York City and attended the City College of New York (CCNY) receiving his B.S. degree magna cum laude. Hofstadter attended graduate school at Princeton University and received both M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in physics in 1938 His Ph.D. work was concerned with infrared spectra of simple organic molecules, and in particular, with the structure of the hydrogen bond. From 1938-1939, he held a Procter Fellowship at Princeton for postdoctoral work, during which he began a study of photoconductivity in willemite crystals. In 1939, Hofstadter received the Harrison Fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania, where he helped to construct a large Van de Graaff machine for nuclear research. During World War II Hofstadter worked at the National Bureau of Standards and the Norden Laboratory Corporation. After the war, he returned to Princeton as Assistant Professor of Physics, where he researched crystal conduction counters, the Guide to the Robert Hofstadter SC0426 2 Papers SC0426 Compton effect, and scintillation counters. In 1950, with the encouragement of colleagues Leonard Schiff and Felix Bloch, Hofstadter left Princeton to become Associate Professor of Physics at Stanford University, where he began research on electron scattering with a linear accelerator. While building equipment for the electron-scattering experiments, he continued working on scintillation counters and developed new detectors for neutrons and X-rays. Other research conducted during Hofstadter’s early years at Stanford concerned cosmic rays and with cascade showers generated by high-speed electrons. Hofstadter was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1958 and was named California Scientist of the Year in 1959. In 1961, he received the Nobel Prize in Physics based on his electron scattering studies of the nucleon. From 1967-1974, Hofstadter directed the High Energy Physics Laboratory at Stanford. He went on to collaborate with colleagues at Stanford’s School of Medicine in the development of synchrotron radiation and K-edge subtraction for coronary angiography (a diagnostic technique which uses radioactive substances in place of catheters to test heart function). In his later years he worked with NASA physicists and technicians to design the Energetic Gamma-Ray Experimental Telescope (EGRET), which was one of four instruments equipped for the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory Satellite. Hofstadter passed away in November of 1990, just prior to EGRET’s launch in 1991. His contributions were commemorated with a plaque that was attached to the observatory. Hofstadter married Nancy Givan of Baltimore, Maryland in 1942. They were the parents of one son, Douglas, and two daughters, Laura and Molly. Description of the Collection This collection contains the papers of former Stanford professor and Nobel Prize winning physicist Robert Hofstadter. Included are lab notebooks and research data; and related files; lecture notes and teaching materials; writings, drafts, and reprints; grant proposals; incoming and outgoing correspondence; travel and conference papers; legal papers; biographical and personal materials; clippings; photographs; and a small amount of audiovisual material. The papers cover a wide swath of Hofstadter's career, including his student and postgraduate work at Princeton University; wartime positions at The United States National Bureau of Standards and Norden Laboratory; Stanford research including electron scattering and coronary angiography; and his collaboration with NASA personnel on the Energetic Gamma-Ray Experiment Telescope. Of particular interest are materials on the development of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC), later renamed the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, as well as correspondence on the relationship between SLAC and the Stanford University Department of Phyiscs. Subjects and Indexing Terms Particles (Nuclear physics) Gamma rays Physics -- Research. Linear accelerators Form factor (Nuclear physics) Laser fusion Pulsars -- Detection Electrons -- Scattering Physics. Physics -- Study and teaching. Scattering (Physics) Angiography Muons Nobel Prize winners United States. National Bureau of Standards Chodorow, Marvin Hansen, W. W. (William Webster) Norden Laboratory Corporation Bloch, Felix United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration Schawlow, Arthur L. Guide to the Robert Hofstadter SC0426 3 Papers SC0426 Hofstadter, Robert Panofsky, Wolfgang K.H. (Wolfgang Kurt Hermann) Stanford Linear Accelerator Center European Organization for Nuclear Research Stanford University. Department of Physics. Faculty Harshaw Chemical Company Stanford University. W.W. Hansen Laboratories of Physics. High Energy Physics Laboratory Hofstadter, Robert Hofstadter, Douglas R. Kaplan, Henry S. Goddard Space Flight Center Ginzton, Edward L. (Edward Leonard) KMS Fusion, Inc. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Papers Accession ARCH-1992-097 Scope and Contents This accession consists of papers authored by Robert Hofstadter. The papers were retained in the order in which they were received; the original numbering scheme was also retained. A number of empty folders were discovered during processing and are noted in the inventory. They have