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Bacher, Robert F. (Robert Fox), 1905-2004-
Oral History interview with Robert F. Bacher, 1981, 1983.
An interview in ten sessions, 1981 and 1983. Bacher recalls his education at the University of Michigan and graduate work in physics at Harvard (1926-27) and Michigan, where he got to know J. R. Oppenheimer and the European physicists who joined the faculty and/or came for the summer sessions in physics: Goudsmit, Uhlenbeck, Fermi, Bohr, Ehrenfest, Dirac and others. Recalls postdoc year at Caltech (1930-31) working on atomic spectra; Oppenheimer's lectures; Millikan's cosmic-ray work. Spends 1931-1932 at MIT working with John Slater; Chadwick's discovery of the neutron. Spends the next two years as a postdoc at Michigan, working with Goudsmit. Instructorship at Columbia, 1934; association with I. I. Rabi. Moves to Cornell in 1935; recollections of Hans Bethe; cyclotron work on neutron energies. Early 1941, joins the Radiation Laboratory at MIT, of which Lee DuBridge was director. Recalls start of Manhattan Engineer District; contacts with J. R. Oppenheimer and General Leslie Groves. Joins Los Alamos in June 1943 as head of experimental physics division; recollections of bomb work. Returns to Cornell in January 1946. Postwar development of high-energy physics; Acheson-Lilienthal Report on international control of atomic energy. Establishment of the Atomic Energy Commission, fall 1946; he becomes a commissioner; moves to Washington, D.C. Recalls weapons testing in the Pacific and the development of nuclear reactors. In 1949, he becomes chairman of the Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy at Caltech. Called back to Washington to testify at Hickenlooper hearings; warns the British about Klaus Fuchs. Discusses the postwar buildup of physics at Caltech; comments on the mathematics and astronomy departments. Debate over tactical vs. strategic nuclear weapons. Service on Presidents Science Advisory Committee; the McCarthy era; comments on his service as Caltech provost (appointed 1962). Comments on establishment of Fermilab; participation in the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics. Recalls advent of Harold Brown as Caltech president in 1969; comments on reorganization of NASA contract with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Comments on current setup of Caltechs Faculty Board and on his own activities since his retirement in 1976.
Physicist. Cornell University, 1935. During World War II, worked in the radar program at the MIT Radiation Laboratory. At the urging of Robert Oppenheimer, he moved to Los Alamos to work on the Manhattan project, and became Head of the Experimental Physics Division, 1943-1944, and head of the bomb physics division, 1944-1945. After the war he returned to Cornell for a short time but them moved to Washington to serve as one of the first members of the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission from 1946-1949. In 1949 he accepted a position at Caltech as chairman of the Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy. In 1962 Bacher became the first Provost of the University; in 1969 he was appointed Vice-President. He retired in 1976 and lived in Montecito California, until his death in 2004.
Bethe, Hans A, (Hans Albrecht), 1906-2005-
Bohr, Niels, 1885-1962.
Brown, Harold, 1927-
Dirac, P. A. M. (Paul Adrien Maurice), 1902-1984
DuBridge, Lee A. (Lee Alvin), 1901-1994-
Ehrenfest, Paul, 1880-1933.
Fermi, Enrico, 1901-1954.
Fuchs, Klaus Emil Julius, 1911-1988
Goudsmit, Samuel A. (Samuel Abraham), 1902-1978
Groves, Leslie R., 1896-1970.
Millikan, Robert Andrews, 1868-1953.
Oppenheimer, J. Robert, 1904-1967.
Rabi, I. I. (Isidor Isaac), 1898-1988
Uhlenbeck, George Eugn̈e, 1900-1988-
California Institute of Technology -- Faculty -- Interviews.
Cornell University -- Faculty.
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. -- History.
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (U.S.) -- History.
Los Alamos National Laboratory -- Research -- History.
Manhattan Project (U.S.) -- History.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Radiation Laboratory.
U.S. Atomic Energy Commission.
United States. President's Science Advisory Committee.
United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Cyclotrons -- Research.
McCarthyism.
Nuclear energy -- International control.
Nuclear weapons.
Neutrons -- Research.
Particles (Nuclear physics).
Weapons -- Testing.
Interviews. aat
Oral histories. aat
Transcripts. aat
Terrall, Mary, interviewer.
AIP-ICOS
California Institute of Technology. Institute Archives. 1201 East California Blvd. (Mail Code 015A-74), Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
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