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Biography
AbstractImportant DatesOccupationPlacesSubjectsRelationships
PeopleInstitutionsResources
Archival as AuthorArchival as SubjectPublished as AuthorPublished as SubjectSamuel A. Goudsmit
Dates
July 11, 1902 – December 4, 1978
Authorized Form of Name
Goudsmit, Samuel A. (Samuel Abraham), 1902-1978
Additional Forms of Names
Goudsmit, Samuel Abraham, 1902-1978
Biography
Abstract
Samuel Abraham Goudsmit was Senior Scientist at Brookhaven National Laboratory (1948-1970). Other institutional affiliations included Northwestern University and University of Michigan. His research interests included magnetic mass spectrometers and atomic spectra.
Important Dates
July 11, 1902Birth, Hague (Netherlands).
1927Obtained PhD in Physics, University of Leiden, Leiden (Netherlands).
1927 – 1946Associate Professor of Physics (1927-1932) and Professor of Physics (1932-1946), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (Mich.).
1941 – 1946Researcher, Radiation Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
1944 – 1945Scientific Head, Operation ALSOS, Office of Field Service, Office of Scientific Research and Development.
1946 – 1948Professor of Physics, Northwestern University.
1947Member, National Academy of Sciences.
1948 – 1951Lecturer, New School for Social Research.
1948 – 1970Senior Scientist (1948-1970) and Chair, Department of Physics (1952-1960), Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton (N.Y.).
1949 – 1959Lecturer, United States Navy Bureau of Ships.
1951 – 1975Managing Editor (1951-1966) and Editor-in-Chief (1967-1975), Physical Review, American Physical Society.
1957 – 1974Visiting Professor, Rockefeller Institute.
1958 – 1978Editor, Physical Review Letters, American Physical Society.
1975 – 1978Visiting Professor, University of Nevada, Reno.
1976Awarded National Medal of Science.
December 4, 1978Death, Reno (Nev.).
Occupation
Nuclear physicist.
Places
Birth
Graduate Education
Employment
Death
Subjects
Relationships
People
Family
Goudsmit, Esther
Daughter.
Goudsmit, Irene Bejach
Second wife.
Goudsmit, Jaantje Logher
First wife. Married 1927, divorced 1960.
Advisors & Collaborators
Bacher, Robert F. (Robert Fox), 1905-2004
Advised by Goudsmit at University of Michigan "Zeeman effect of the hyperfine structure of atomic levels," and co-wrote "Atomic energy states, as derived from the analyses of optical spectra."
Ehrenfest, Paul, 1880-1933
PhD advisor at University of Leiden "Atoommodel en structuur der spectra."
Colleagues
Both employed at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Both employed at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Both employed at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Cool, Rodney L. (Rodney Lee), 1920-1988
Both employed at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Courant, Ernest D. (Ernest David), 1920-
Both employed at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Crane, H. R. (Horace Richard), 1907-2007
Both employed at University of Michigan.
Both employed at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Both employed at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Dennison, David M. (David Mathias), 1900-1976
Both employed at University of Michigan.
Both employed at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Both employed at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Both employed at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Both employed at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Both employed at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Haworth, Leland J. (Leland John), 1904-
Both employed at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Both employed at University of Michigan.
Livingston, M. Stanley (Milton Stanley)
Both employed at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Morse, Philip M. (Philip McCord), 1903-1985
Both employed at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Both employed at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Poskanzer, A. M. (Arthur M.), 1931-
Both employed at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Randall, Harrison M. (Harrison McAllister), 1870-
Both employed at University of Michigan.
Both employed at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Both employed at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Both employed at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Tape, Gerald Frederick, 1915-2005
Both employed at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Uhlenbeck, George Eugène, 1900-1988
Both employed at University of Michigan.
Both employed at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Both employed at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Both employed at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Additional
Berlin, Theodore H., 1917-1962
Bok, Bart J. (Bart Jan), 1906-1983
Casimir, H. B. G. (Hendrik Brugt Gerhard), 1909-2000
Darrow, Karl K. (Karl Kelchner), 1891-
Feynman, Richard P. (Richard Phillips), 1918-1988
Fok, V. A. (Vladimir Aleksandrovich), 1898-1974
Frank, Charles, Sir
Gerlach, Walther, 1889-1979
Gorter, C. J. (Cornelis Jacobus), 1907-
Hartley, Ralph Vinton Lyon, 1888-1970
Havens, William W. (William Westerfield), 1920-2004
Hoddeson, Lillian
Inglis, David Rittenhouse, 1905-1995
Irving, David John Cawdell, 1938-
Kemble, Edwin C. (Edwin Crawford), 1889-
Kowarski, Lew
Kronig, R. (Ralph), 1904-
Landé, Alfred, 1888-
Loomis, F. W. (Francis Wheeler), 1889-1976
Lorentz, H. A. (Hendrik Antoon), 1853-1928
Mayer, Maria Goeppert, 1906-1972
Millikan, Robert Andrews, 1868-1953
Oppenheimer, J. Robert, 1904-1967
Pauling, Linus, 1901-1994
Peierls, Rudolf E. (Rudolf Ernst), 1907-1995
Perrin, Michael Wilcox
Polanyi, Michael, 1891-1976
Rabi, I. I. (Isidor Isaac), 1898-1988
Robertson, H. P. (Howard Percy), 1903-1961
Slater, John C. (John Clarke), 1900-1976
Smith, Gail Preston, 1915-
Thomas, Llewellyn Hilleth, 1903-1992
Urey, Harold Clayton, 1893-1981
Van Vleck, J. H. (John Hasbrouck), 1899-1980
Weizsacker, Carl Friedrich, Freiherr von, 1912-2007
Wideroe, Rolf, 1902-
Wu, Ta-you
Institutions
Major Positions
Managing Editor, Physical Review; Editor-in-Chief, Physical Review; Editor, Physical Review Letters.
Brookhaven National Laboratory
Senior Scientist and Chair, Department of Physics.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Radiation Laboratory
Researcher.
New School for Social Research (New York, N.Y. : 1919-1997)
Lecturer.
Northwestern University (Evanston, Ill.). Department of Physics
Professor of Physics.
Rockefeller University
Visiting Professor.
United States. Navy Department. Bureau of Ships
Lecturer.
United States. Office of Scientific Research and Development
Scientific Head, Operation ALSOS, Office of Field Service.
University of Michigan. Department of Physics
Associate Professor of Physics and Professor of Physics.
University of Nevada. Dept. of Physics.
Visiting Professor.
Professional Activities & Affiliations
National Academy of Sciences (U.S.)
Member.
Rijksuniversiteit te Leiden
Obtained PhD in Physics (1927).
Resources
Archival Resources
Author
75th anniversary session of the American Physical Society [sound recording], 1974 April 22.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
American Physical Society records, 1899-1989.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Archive for the History of Quantum Physics, 1898-1950 (bulk).
Library
American Philosophical Society
105 South Fifth Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA
History of physics audio-visual collection, circa 1918-1996, 1960-1988 (bulk)
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Informal moments, Summer Symposia at the University of Michigan [motion picture] / taken by David Dennison ; 1933-1937.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Invited papers on the history of physics [sound recording] : American Physical Society Meeting, 1966 April 28.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Letters to NBS staff on "Atomic Energy Levels," 1949-1971.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Samuel Abraham Goudsmit, 1963 December 5 and 7.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Samuel Goudsmit 1976 May 7.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Outtakes and candid footage from the production of : The world of Enrico Fermi, circa 1930-1968.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Palmer Physical Laboratory Colloquia [sound recording], 1962 and 1966.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Quantum physics correspondence, 1918-1948.
Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Preussischer Kulturbesitz.
Potsdamer Strasse, Postfach 1107, W-1000, Berlin 30, Germany
Samuel A. Goudsmit correspondence [microform], 1921-1933.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Samuel A. Goudsmit papers, 1921-1979.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Samuel A. Goudsmit papers, 1928-1932.
Library
American Philosophical Society
105 South Fifth Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA
Samuel A. Goudsmit papers.
Museum of Jewish Heritage
342 Madison Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10173, USA
Samuel and Irene Goudsmit collection, 1862-1944.
Leo Baeck Institute at the Center for Jewish History
15 West 16th Street, New York, NY 10011, USA
Samuel Goudsmit addition to papers, 1932-1974.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Samuel Goudsmit address [sound recording]
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Samuel Goudsmit quantum mechanics seminar for science writers [sound recording], 1964 October 6.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Symposium of the Forum on Physics and Society [sound recording] : science and secrecy, 1973 April 24.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Text materials for documentary film: The world of Enrico Fermi, circa 1930-1968.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
The development of physics in the United States in the 1920s and 1930s [sound recording] / 1974 April 22.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
The Michigan Symposium on Theoretical Physics, circa 1961.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
The world of Enrico Fermi [motion picture].
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Subject
Alfred Landé incoming letters [microform], 1915-1927.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Alfred Landé papers, 1915-1970.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Esther M. Goudsmit papers, 1925-1995.
Bentley Historical Library
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-2113, USA
Esther Marianne Goudsmit papers, 1927-1981.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
F. W. Loomis papers, 1920-1976.
University Archives
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
1408 West Gregory Drive, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
Gail P. Smith autobiography, circa 1965.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
George Uhlenbeck papers, 1918-1982 (bulk 1925-1970).
Bentley Historical Library
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-2113, USA
George Uhlenbeck papers, 1925-1988.
Rockefeller Archive Center
15 Dayton Ave., Pocantico Hills, North Tarrytown, NY 10591-1598, USA
H. P. Robertson papers, 1922-1980 (bulk 1936-1966).
Institute Archives
California Institute of Technology
1201 East California Blvd. (Mail Code 015A-74), Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
Lew Kowarski papers, 1907-1981 (bulk 1930-1981).
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Lillian Hoddeson papers, 1904-2001.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Materials gathered for his book, The German atomic bomb [microform], 1938-1945. Irving, David John Cawdell.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Niels Bohr material collected elsewhere, 1912-1962.
Niels Bohr Archive
Blegdamsvej 17, Copenhagen, Denmark
Oral history interview with Alfred Landé, 1962 March 5, 6, 7, 8 and June 15.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Bart Jan Bok, 1978 May 15, 17, 19 and 1978 June 14.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Carl Friedrich Weizsacker, 1985 May 9.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Carl Friedrich Weizsacker, 1986 January 28.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Cornelis Jacobus Gorter, 1962 November 13.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with David Mathias Dennison, 1964 January 27, 28 and 30.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with David Rittenhouse Inglis, 1977 May 9 and 10.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Frederick Charles Frank, 1985 April 12.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Frederick Seitz, 1982 October 6 and 7.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Frederick Seitz, 1994 July 19.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with H. R. Crane, 1973 March 28 and 1974 June 18.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Harold Clayton Urey, 1964 March 24.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Harrison M. Randall, 1964 February 19, 20 and 1965 June 21.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Hendrik Brugt Gerhard Casimir, 1963 July 5 and 6.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Linus Carl Pauling, 1964 March 27.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Llewellyn Hilleth Thomas, 1962 May 10.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Maria Goeppert Mayer, 1962 February 20.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Michael Willcox Perrin, 1985 April 11.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Ralph de Laer Kronig, 1962 November 12.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral History interview with Robert F. Bacher, 1966 June 30.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral History interview with Robert F. Bacher, 1981, 1983.
Institute Archives
California Institute of Technology
1201 East California Blvd. (Mail Code 015A-74), Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
Oral History interview with Robert F. Bacher, 1986 February 13.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral History interview with Robert V. Pound, 2003 May 22 and 23.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Rudolf Ernst Peierls, 1985 April 7.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Ta-You Wu, 1977 February 5.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Vannevar Bush, 1964.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Vannevar Bush, 1964.
Institute Archives and Special Collections
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
M.I.T. Libraries, Rm. 14N-118, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
Oral history interview with Vladimir Aleksandrovich Fok, 1967 October 11.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Walther Gerlach, 1963 February 18 and 23.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with William W. Havens, 1991 February 21, July 17, 29, Augut 5, 12 and 14.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Paul Ehrenfest papers [microform], 1903-1933.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Paul Ehrenfest papers, 1902-1933.
Rijksmumsum voor de Geschiedenis van de Natuurwetenschappen en van de Geneeskunde 'Museum Boerhaave'
Steenstraat IA, 2313 BS Leiden, Netherlands
Pieter Zeeman papers, 1877-1946.
Rijksarchief in Noord-Holland
Kleine Houtweg 18, Haarlem, Netherlands
Ralph Vinton Lyon Hartley papers, 1920-1970.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Richard Feynman papers, 1933-1965.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Robert F. Bacher papers, 1924-1994.
Institute Archives
California Institute of Technology
1201 East California Blvd. (Mail Code 015A-74), Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
Rolf Wideröe papers, 1942-1945.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Theodore Berlin papers, 1944-1962.
Rockefeller Archive Center
15 Dayton Ave., Pocantico Hills, North Tarrytown, NY 10591-1598, USA
William T. Scott collection on Michael Polanyi, 1903-1995 (bulk 1979-1991).
Library
University of Nevada, Reno.
Special Collections Dept., Reno, NV 89557, USA.
Published Resources
Author
Alsos / Samuel A. Goudsmit ; with a new introduction by R.V. Jones.
Atoommodel en structuur der spectra, door Samuel Abraham Goudsmit.
Samuel Goudsmit, Alsos (New York: H. Schuman, 1947)
The structure of line spectra, by Linus Pauling and Samuel Goudsmit
Subject
"Heisenberg, Goudsmit, and the German Atomic Bomb," Physics Today 42 (1989): 52-60
"Samuel Abraham Goudsmit: 1902-1978", Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences