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Owen Chamberlain Papers, 1941-2006 http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt838nd36q No online items Finding Aid to the Owen Chamberlain Papers, 1941-2006 Finding Aid written by Charles Hargrove Funding for processing this collection was provided by a grant from the Friends of the Center for History of Physics, American Institute of Physics. The Bancroft Library University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, California, 94720-6000 Phone: (510) 642-6481 Fax: (510) 642-7589 Email: [email protected] URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/ © 2006 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Finding Aid to the Owen BANC MSS 2002/345 z 1 Chamberlain Papers, 1941-2006 Finding Aid to the Owen Chamberlain Papers, 1941-2006 Collection Number: BANC MSS 2002/345 z The Bancroft Library University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, CaliforniaFunding for processing this collection was provided by a grant from the Friends of the Center for History of Physics, American Institute of Physics. Finding Aid Written By: Charles Hargrove Date Completed: August 2006 © 2006 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Collection Summary Collection Title: Owen Chamberlain papers Date (inclusive): 1941-2006 Collection Number: BANC MSS 2002/345 z Creators : Chamberlain, O. (Owen) Extent: Number of containers: 22 cartons, 1 oversize folderLinear feet: 27.5 Repository: The Bancroft Library Berkeley, California 94720-6000 Abstract: The Owen Chamberlain Papers, 1941-2006, consist of materials documenting Chamberlain's career as a Professor of Physics at the University of California, Berkeley and researcher at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. There is comparatively little material focused on Chamberlain's own scientific research. Languages Represented: Collection materials are in English Physical Location: Many of the Bancroft Library collections are stored offsite and advance notice may be required for use. For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the library's online catalog. Access Collection is open for research. Publication Rights Copyright has been assigned to The Bancroft Library. All requests for permission to publish or reproduce must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-6000. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Bancroft Library as the owner of the physical items and the copyright. Copyright restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research and educational purposes. Preferred Citation [Identification of item], Owen Chamberlain Papers, BANC MSS 2002/345 z, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. Alternate Forms Available There are no alternate forms of this collection. Related Collections Owen Chamberlain interview [sound recording] / conducted by Bob and Betty Lewis, 1976. Separated Material Printed materials have been transferred to the book collection of The Bancroft Library. Audiovisual materials have been transferred to the Microforms Collection of The Bancroft Library. Indexing Terms The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog. Physics--Research Finding Aid to the Owen BANC MSS 2002/345 z 2 Chamberlain Papers, 1941-2006 Physics Faculty papers. University of California, Berkeley. Dept. of Physics Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory History of science and technology collection Acquisition Information The Owen Chamberlain Papers were given to The Bancroft Library by Owen Chamberlain on February 26, 2001. Accruals No additions are expected. Processing Information Processed by Charles Hargrove in 2006. Biographical Information Owen Chamberlain was born in San Francisco on July 10, 1920, the son of W. Edward Chamberlain, radiologist, and Genevieve Lucinda Owen. He obtained his bachelor's degree at Dartmouth College in 1941 and entered graduate school in physics at the University of California, Berkeley. After the United States entered into World War II, Chamberlain began working on the Manhattan Project under Emilio Segrè. In 1946 Chamberlain resumed his graduate studies under Enrico Fermi at the University of Chicago. He completed experimental work in 1948 and received his doctorate in 1949. In 1948 he accepted a teaching position at the University of California, Berkeley. Much of his research subsequent to this involved studies of proton scattering and polarization effects. Chamberlain worked extensively with Emilio Segrè and Clyde Wiegand, Dr. Thomas Ypsilantis, and Dr. Robert D. Tripp. In 1955 Chamberlain, along with Wiegand, Segrè, and Ypsilantis discovered the antiproton, an accomplishment for which he and Segrè were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1959. Chamberlain was appointed Professor of Physics at the University of California, Berkeley in 1958. For the next few years he and his colleagues studied the properties of antiprotons and used them to create antineutrons. During the 1960s and 1970s he spent much of his time on the scattering of various subatomic particles using polarized proton targets. During the late 1970s and early 1980s Chamberlain worked with the Berkeley Bevalac accelerator to study nuclear interactions. His last major project was working with Dr. David Nygren on the development of the Time-Projection-Chamber at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. In addition to his scientific endeavors, Chamberlain was also politically active, concentrating on issues of peace and social justice. He spoke out strongly against the Vietnam War. He was an influential member of Scientists for Sakharov, Orlov, and Shcharansky, three physicists of the Soviet Union imprisoned for their political beliefs. In the 1980s, he helped found the nuclear freeze movement. Chamberlain was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1959 and throughout his career, received numerous other professional honors. He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a member of the American Physical Society. In 1957 he studied antinucleons at the University of Rome through the auspices of a Guggenheim Fellowship. Upon his retirement from UC Berkeley, he received the campus's highest honor, the Berkeley Citation. In 1943 he married Beatrice Babette Copper (dec. 1988). They had three daughters and one son. He subsequently married June Steingart Greenfield (dec. 1991) and Senta Pugh Gaiser. Chamberlain was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1985 and retired from teaching in 1989. He died of complications from the disease on February 28, 2006, in Berkeley at the age of 85. Scope and Content of Collection The Owen Chamberlain Papers, 1941-2006, consist of materials documenting Chamberlain's career as a Professor of Physics at the University of California, Berkeley and researcher at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Much of the collection relates to his involvement in the social justice and nuclear disarmament movements, as well as materials relating to his teaching career at the University of California, Berkeley. The collection also contains personal and professional correspondence, reprints, subject files, materials relating to Chamberlain's 1959 Nobel Prize, professional meeting materials, and files regarding a lawsuit filed against Chamberlain in 1972 for an alleged failure to acknowledge the contributions of Emilio Piccioni in discovering the anti-proton. There is comparatively little material focused on Chamberlain's own scientific research. The collection is arranged at the series level only. There was minimal arrangement of materials within the individual series. Finding Aid to the Owen BANC MSS 2002/345 z 3 Chamberlain Papers, 1941-2006 Series 1Correspondence 1948-1996, undated Series 1 Correspondence 1948-1996, undated Physical Description: Cartons 1, 2 Arrangement Carton 1 is arranged chronologically. Carton 2 is arranged alphabetically. Scope and Content Note Consists of Chamberlain's personal and professional correspondence. The personal correspondence is arranged chronologically, and the professional correspondence is arranged alphabetically. The year 1959 is especially well represented in Chamberlain's personal correspondence as it includes a large number of congratulatory letters regarding Chamberlain winning the Nobel Prize. Carton 1, Folder Correspondence 1948-1996, undated 1-57 Carton 2, Folder Correspondence A-Z 1952-1993, undated 1-118 Series 2 Notes and Notebooks 1941-1980, undated Physical Description: Cartons 3, 4 Arrangement Arranged as received. Scope and Content Note Contains Chamberlain's notes and notebooks. The notebooks are both Chamberlain's personal student notebooks from the 1940s and notebooks covering his own research later in his career. Much of the material is undated and unidentified. Carton 3, Folder 1 Los Alamos Declassification #255. Fermi-neuron physics undated Carton 3, Folder Los Alamos report 1943 2-3 Carton 3, Folder Lectures on nuclear physics undated 4-5 Carton 3, Folder 6 Notes on electrodynamics undated Carton 3, Folder 7 Notes on quantum mechanics undated Carton 3, Folder 8 Serber says-About High Energy Processes and Nuclear Forces undated Carton 3, Folder 9 E. Fermi class 1947 Carton 3, Folder Lab notes undated 10 Carton 3, Folder Questions from the preliminary examinations for the doctorate in physics undated 11 Carton 3, Folder Electromagnetic theory-Bethe and Marshak undated 12 Carton 3, Folder Relativistic quantum mechanics
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