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Carl Anderson (1905-1991)

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Carl Anderson (1905-1991) CARL ANDERSON (1905-1991) INTERVIEWED BY HARRIETT LYLE January 9-February 8, 1979 ARCHIVES CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Pasadena, California Subject area Physics Abstract This wide-ranging 1979 interview in eight sessions with Carl D. Anderson, Board of Trustees Professor of Physics, emeritus and Nobel laureate, begins with his recollections of his undergraduate years at Caltech (1923-1927), and the influence of Arthur Amos Noyes and Ira Sprague Bowen. He recalls courses with Earnest Watson, Morgan Ward, Richard Chace Tolman, J. R. Oppenheimer. He offers his early and ongoing impressions of Robert A. Millikan as chairman of physics division and head of Caltech, and of Millikan’s work on cosmic rays. He recalls his own postdoctoral work at Caltech on cosmic rays, and his discovery of the positron in 1932 and the mu-meson, or muon, in 1936, and on contemporary developments in nuclear physics. He comments on his Nobel Prize (1936). He discusses his contacts with Enrico Fermi’s group at Chicago in the early 1940s and Caltech’s rocket projects during World War II at China Lake and Goldstone, including the contributions of Charles Lauritsen, I. S. Bowen, and Seth Neddermeyer. He offers recollections of postwar Caltech, the increase in research funds and undergraduate enrollment, the rise of particle physics and the advent of the large accelerator era. He discusses his stint as chairman of the Division of the Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy (1962-1970) and concludes by commenting on the current state of physics research. http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechOH:OH_Anderson_C Administrative information Access The interview is unrestricted. Copyright Copyright has been assigned to the California Institute of Technology © 1981, 2004. All requests for permission to publish or quote from the transcript must be submitted in writing to the University Archivist. Preferred citation Anderson, Carl. Interview by Harriett Lyle. Pasadena, California, January 9- February 8, 1979. Oral History Project, California Institute of Technology Archives. Retrieved [supply date of retrieval] from the World Wide Web: http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechOH:OH_Anderson_C 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 © 2004 California Institute of Technology. http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechOH:OH_Anderson_C Carl Anderson with the magnet cloud chamber with which he discovered the positive electron, or positron. For this work he won the Nobel Prize in physics in 1936. Caltech Archives. http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechOH:OH_Anderson_C CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ORAL HISTORY PROJECT INTERVIEW WITH CARL ANDERSON BY HARRIETT LYLE PASADENA, CALIFORNIA Caltech Archives, 1981 Copyright © 1981, 2004 by the California Institute of Technology http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechOH:OH_Anderson_C Anderson–ii TABLE OF CONTENTS INTERVIEW WITH CARL ANDERSON Session 1 1-19 Family background; Junior Travel Prize trip to Europe; Arthur A. Noyes; meeting Lorentz and Kamerlingh Onnes; early interest in electrical engineering; being introduced to physics by Ike Bowen; family’s move from New York to Los Angeles just before high school; L.A. Polytechnic High School; encouragement from physics teacher to go to Caltech; friendship with Louis Gazin (high school and Caltech). Living at home, supporting mother, while going to Caltech; Section A (advanced students) physics; Earnest Watson; Morgan Ward; Richard Tolman’s class on relativity; Millikan’s graduate course. Millikan as administrator and public figure; his reputation; his contact with undergraduates; his role in attracting visiting physicists to Caltech; Oppenheimer as a teacher; Oppenheimer’s attempt to explain Dirac’s theory. Session 2 20-39 Graduate work at Caltech; assigned by Millikan to work with Loughridge on photoelectric effect of X rays; modifying equipment and continuing cloud chamber work for thesis; Ph.D. oral exam. Millikan’s work on cosmic rays; Millikan’s knack for evaluating importance of new research fields; experimental work done by individuals (not usually collaborative teams). Lorentz and his failure to discover relativity; Lorentz’s lectures at Caltech and his talk to Tau Beta Pi chapter (Anderson president). Contact with von Kármán; Vic Neher. Plans to stay at Caltech after getting Ph.D. to work with high energy gamma rays from thorium C’’; Millikan’s veto; plans to go to Chicago instead; Millikan’s second veto; postdoctoral work at Caltech on cosmic rays (per Millikan’s suggestion); Millikan’s theory of the origin of cosmic rays; unexpected results of experiment. Discovery of the positron; publishing in Science rather than Physical Review Joliot and Curie’s work on similar experiment; Chadwick’s discovery of neutron; discovery of artificial radioactivity; Cockcroft-Walton experiment with breaking up beryllium nucleus; confirmation of Cockcroft-Walton work in Kellogg using modified X-ray tube. http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechOH:OH_Anderson_C Anderson–iii Session 3 40-53 Millikan’s control of research funds; cutting corners on equipment costs (acquiring Columbia Studios motor-generator through Frank Capra); cosmic ray expedition to Pikes Peak with Seth Neddermeyer (summer 1935); outfitting trailer truck for equipment and driving to Colorado; set- up on Pikes Peak; problems with equipment. Evidence for new particles; theoretical predictions; discussions with Oppenheimer; discovery and naming of meson. Controversy over Tsien (accused by FBI of being Communist); prevalence of political discussion groups in thirties; Anderson graduate student accused of communist sympathies. Session 4 54-69 Nobel Prize; financial difficulties in Depression; supporting mother. Work as chairman of physics division; structure of Caltech’s administration; teaching; informal contact with students; social life at Caltech; long working hours; Athenaeum as gathering place for graduate students. Cosmic ray work that led to discovery of meson; direction of graduate students research. Visit to Fermi group in Chicago; turning down Compton’s offer to head lab; early assessment of feasibility of A-bomb; acquaintance with Earnest Lawrence; the first cyclotron. Security clearance for people working on defense projects; Linus Pauling; petition against atmospheric bomb tests. Session 5 70-80 Charlie Lauritsen’s work on proximity fuse (l940); Lauritsen rocket project at Caltech; rocket testing work at Goldstone; China Lake; developing rockets to be fired from aircraft; retro-firing anti-submarine rockets; Bowen’s contributions to rocket project; administration of rocket project by Watson; Navy’s support of rocket project. Neddermeyer’s contribution to A-bomb. Changes in teaching during war (due to professors’ absence); Navy V-12 program; graduate student work on defense projects; factory-like nature of Caltech during war. http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechOH:OH_Anderson_C Anderson–iv Session 6 81-95 Work on Freshman Admissions Committee; interviewing program; graduate admissions; funding sources for graduate education; possibility of doing away with undergraduate education at Caltech. Committee on Sponsored Research; absence of classified work at Caltech and JPL; relationship between Caltech and JPL. Return to peacetime work after World War II; new funding from government sources; increase in undergraduate enrollment; increase in research funds; growth of faculty; chairmanship of physics division; changing emphasis in particle physics; question of building large accelerator. Session 7 96-109 Family activities; raising sons; interest in auto racing. Using Navy B-29s for cosmic ray physics; safety and engineering problems with large magnets; detecting strange particles at White Mountain. Problems associated with having physics, mathematics and astronomy in one division; disagreement among mathematicians about hiring; trying to attract and keep young mathematicians; Owens Valley radio astronomy project. President Kennedy’s dinner for Nobel laureates (1962); Linus Pauling. Session 8 110-118 Recollections of memorable events; sophomore physics course with Bowen; acquaintance with Millikan; discovery of meson; summary of career. http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechOH:OH_Anderson_C CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ORAL HISTORY PROJECT Interview with Carl Anderson by Harriett Lyle Pasadena, California Session 1 January 9, 1979 Session 2 January 11, 1979 Session 3 January 16, 1979 Session 4 January 18, 1979 Session 5 January 23, 1979 Session 6 January 25, 1979 Session 7 January 30, 1979 Session 8 February 8, 1979 Begin Tape 1, Side 1 LYLE: I know you were born in New York City and that you moved to Los Angeles when you were seven. I wondered if you would tell me a little bit about your family. ANDERSON: I wish I had discussed things with my family more than I did. You know when you’re a kid, you don’t think of learning things that you will be interested in in later years. What do you want to know about my family? They both emigrated from Sweden when they were eighteen or nineteen years old, something like that. I don’t know; I wish I knew. My father spent most of his life in the restaurant management business. Now, what he did the first five years or so after he reached New York City from Sweden, I don’t know. I wish I’d asked him. So I don’t know those things and I don’t know what my mother did. LYLE: Do you know anything about her family, for example? ANDERSON: I have met my father’s
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