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Julian Seymour Schwinger Papers, 1920-1994 http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf5870062x No online items Finding Aid for the Julian Seymour Schwinger Papers, 1920-1994 Processed by Russell Johnson and Charlotte B. Brown; machine-readable finding aid created by Caroline Cubé UCLA Library, Department of Special Collections Manuscripts Division Room A1713, Charles E. Young Research Library Box 951575 Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575 Email: [email protected] URL: http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/special/scweb/ © 1999 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Finding Aid for the Julian 371 1 Seymour Schwinger Papers, 1920-1994 Finding Aid for the Julian Seymour Schwinger Papers, 1920-1994 Collection number: 371 UCLA Library, Department of Special Collections Manuscripts Division Los Angeles, CA Contact Information Manuscripts Division UCLA Library, Department of Special Collections Room A1713, Charles E. Young Research Library Box 951575 Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575 Telephone: 310/825-4988 (10:00 a.m. - 4:45 p.m., Pacific Time) Email: [email protected] URL: http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/special/scweb/ Processed by: Charlotte B. Brown, 13 October 1995 and Russell A. Johnson, 12 February 1997 Encoded by: Caroline Cubé Online finding aid edited by: Josh Fiala, November 2002 © 1999 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Descriptive Summary Title: Julian Seymour Schwinger Papers, Date (inclusive): 1920-1994 Collection number: 371 Creator: Schwinger, Julian Seymour, 1918- Extent: 28 cartons (28 linear ft.) 1 oversize box Repository: University of California, Los Angeles. Library. Department of Special Collections. Los Angeles, California 90095-1575 Abstract: Julian Seymour Schwinger (1918-1994) worked with J. Robert Oppenheimer in developing the atomic bomb, and taught at Harvard University (1945-72) and UCLA (1972-88). He was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics in 1965 for his contributions in the field of quantum electrodynamics. The collection consists of correspondence, lecture notes, problem sets, manuscripts, speeches, reports, research subject files, videotapes, films, notes, computations, and printed material related to Schwinger's research and teaching activities in physics. Physical location: Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact the UCLA Library, Department of Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information. Language: English. Restrictions on Use and Reproduction Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library, Department of Special Collections. Literary rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright. Restrictions on Access COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: advance notice required for access. Additional Physical Form Available Finding Aid for the Julian 371 2 Seymour Schwinger Papers, 1920-1994 A copy of the original version of this online finding aid is available at the UCLA Department of Special Collections for in-house consultation and may be obtained for a fee. Please contact: Public Services Division UCLA Library, Department of Special Collections Room A1713, Charles E. Young Research Library Box 951575 Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575 Telephone: 310/825-4988 (10:00 a.m. - 4:45 p.m., Pacific Time) Email: [email protected] Provenance/Source of Acquisition Gift of Clarice Schwinger, 1996. Preferred Citation [Identification of item], Julian Seymour Schwinger Papers (Collection 371). Department of Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles. UCLA Catalog Record ID UCLA Catalog Record ID: 2976794 Biography Schwinger was born February 12, 1918 in New York City; AB, Columbia, 1936; Ph.D, Columbia, 1939; received a National Research Council Fellowship and went to UC Berkeley to work with J. Robert Oppenheimer; contributed to the development of the atomic bomb as a staff member at the Metallurgical Laboratory, University of Chicago, 1943; staff member, Radiation Laboratory, MIT, 1943-46; taught at Harvard University, 1945-72; taught at UCLA, 1972-88; awarded the Nobel Prize in physics in 1965 for his contributions in the field of quantum electrodynamics; died July 16, 1994. Biographical Narrative Julian Seymour Schwinger (1918-1994), one of the leading physicists of the 20th century, shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965 with Richard Feynman and Shinichiro Tomonaga for their independent contributions in the field of quantum electrodynamics. Schwinger's theoretical contributions in the late 1940s and early 1950s provoked a revolution in theoretical physics and laid the foundations for progress in ultra-high-energy physics and in probing the ultimate structure of matter. Schwinger's career spanned 60 years; the first of his nearly 200 scientific papers (and numerous books) was published when he was 17. The physicist Isidor Isaac Rabi guided his transfer from CCNY (College of the City of New York) to Columbia University, where he received his doctorate in physics in 1939. In 1939, Schwinger went to the University of California, Berkeley to work with J. Robert Oppenheimer and began making fundamental contributions to the science of nuclear physics. During World War II, applying himself to microwave problems, he contributed to the improvement of radar as a staff member in the Radiation Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After the war Schwinger joined the faculty at Harvard University, becoming a full professor in 1947 at age 29. During this period Schwinger began publishing his papers on quantum electrodynamic theory, a refinement of the concept that Paul A.M. Dirac had introduced in 1929. Schwinger shared the first Albert Einstein Prize with the mathematician Kurt Godel in 1951, and received the newly created National Medal of Science from President Lyndon Johnson in 1964. Schwinger moved from Harvard to UCLA in 1972 as a professor of physics, was named University Professor in 1980, and attained Emeritus status in 1988. Scope and Content Collection consists of correspondence, lecture notes, problem sets, manuscripts, speeches, reports, research subject files, videotapes, films, notes, computations, and printed material related to Schwinger's research and teaching activities in physics. The bulk of the material covers the periods he taught at Harvard and at UCLA (1945-88). Manuscripts of published and unpublished articles and monographs form the largest category of material in the collection by volume. Correspondents include: George Abell, McGeorge Bundy, Richard P. Feynman, Wolfgang Pauli, William A. Nierenberg, B. Stanley Pons, J. Robert Oppenheimer, David S. Saxon, Edward Teller, Gregor Wentzel, and Eugene P. Wigner. Expanded Scope and Content The papers of Julian Schwinger span the years 1920-1994; the bulk of the material covers the periods he spent at Harvard University and UCLA, from 1945 until his death in 1994. The collection contains manuscript notes and computations; manuscripts, typescripts, reprints and offprints, and correspondence of or about publications, lectures, and speeches; and class lecture notes, examinations, and problem sets and exercises. There is little material pertaining directly to Schwinger's Finding Aid for the Julian 371 3 Seymour Schwinger Papers, 1920-1994 personal life, professional affiliations, or appointments and administrative activities. The collection documents Schwinger's research, writing, and teaching in physics, and relationships with other physicists, including collaborators, competitors, mentors, and students. Schwinger's early, pre-World War II years are represented by a photocopy of the annotated typescript of what he later referred to as Publication 0 [zero] (On the interaction of several electrons, 1934); a manuscript notebook which contains, among other entries, extracts and notes on papers published by others from 1929-1935; and reprints (including P.A.M. Dirac) from this period. It is unclear if these reprints were received by Schwinger at the time of publication or were collected later. Manuscripts of published and unpublished articles and monographs, in various stages of completion, form perhaps the largest category by volume; the vast majority are longhand notes or transcriptions on yellow letter or legal pads or in spiral bound notebooks, and annotated typescripts. These are complemented by and at times interleaved with notes and computations in the same formats, in addition to university examination blue books, conference letterhead stationery, envelopes, placemats, or any other pieces of paper that were at hand. Lectures to scientific and other audiences, written in most of the formats described above, comprise another large portion of the collection. Transparencies or viewgraphs for overhead projection are sometimes accompanied by prepared texts; however, most often they served as the sole documentation of a particular lecture. The collection includes multiple versions of several popular lectures, including Schwinger's Sigma Xi Lecture (Conflicts in Physics, 1973) and his UCLA Faculty Research Lecture (Relativity and the Common Understanding, 1979). Personal tributes to mentors, colleagues, and students take the form of lectures which remained unpublished or which were later published as Festschrifts. Schwinger's contribution to the television
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