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Description of Collection Biographical Note Scope and Contents of Collection Restrictions on Use and Access Selected Search Terms Organization and Arrangement of Collection Provenance and Acquisition Information Processing Information Preferred Citation of Collection Administrative Information

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Series I: Robert Ubell files as editor of series, Masters of Modern Physics

Robert Ubell files as editor of series Masters of Modern Physics, 1967-1996

Description of Collection

Repository

American Institute of Physics. Niels Bohr Library & Archives.

Papers created by

Ubell, Robert N.

Size of collection

1.5 linear feet
1 manuscript box(s)
1 records box(s)

Short description of collection

This collection is files relating to the American Institute of Physics book series, Masters of Modern Physics, under the direction of Editor Robert Ubell.

Language(s) of collection

English

Collection number:

AR2005-644

Robert Ubell received a B.A. in English from the City University of New York-Brooklyn College. Now, he specializes in technical publishing, online learning, and higher education administration; he is currently the vice president of enterprise learning at Polytechnic Institute of New York University. As an editor, Ubell has specialized in scientific works, serving as vice president, editor-in-chief, and head of the Russian scientific translation program at Plenum Publishing Corporation, editor of The Sciences, the monthly magazine of the New York Academy of Sciences, as the American publisher of Nature, and as the founding publisher of Nature Biotechnology.

Scope and Contents of Collection

This collection is mostly correspondence relating to the publishing of the American Institute of Physics series, Masters of Modern Physics, when Robert Ubell was the editor of the series. The Masters of Modern Physics series gathered together previously-published, non-technical works by an author and published them as one book. The collection also contains five folders of correspondence with scientists relating to American Chemical Society publishing projects.

Folders are arranged in alphabetical order, by the last name of the scientist involved. There is correspondence with scientists who declined the invitation to join the series, as well as correspondence and other papers for those who did become authors in the series. For those who did publish books, the majority of the documents are letters giving permission to reprint works that were already published, copies of articles that were considered for publication, and general correspondence with Robert Ubell and his staff.

The following individuals published books in this series while Robert Ubell was editor:

Hans Albrecht Bethe (1906-2005), German-American physicist, and Nobel laureate in physics for his work in quantum electrodynamics, nuclear physics, solid-state physics and particle astrophysics. Head of the Theoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory; professor of physics, Cornell University.

Lewis Branscomb (1926-), physicist, specializing in the study of atomic and molecular negative ions. Professional experience includes: director, National Bureau of Standards (1951-1972); chairman, National Science Board (1980-1984); director of science technology and public policy program, professor emeritus, John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University (1986-).

Sidney David Drell (1926-), theoretical physicist. Professor emeritus, Stanford Linear Accelerator Center.

John H. Gibbons (1929-), experimental physicist with an interest in environmental impact. Assistant to the President for Science and Technology and Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, 1993-1998.

Owen Jay Gingerich (1930-), former Research Professor of Astronomy and of the History of Science at Harvard University, and a senior astronomer emeritus at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. In addition to his research and teaching, he has written many books on the history of astronomy.

Goldanskii, Vitalii Iosifovich (1923-2001). Soviet physicist and chemist. Member of Russian Academy of Sciences from 1981. Worked in the Physical Institute of the Academy of Sciences and in the Institute of Chemical Physics.

Gerald James Holton (1922-), Ph.D. (physics), Harvard, 1948. Mallinckrodt Research Professor of Physics and Research Professor of the History of Science, Harvard University. Research interests: history and philosophy of science, physics of matter at high pressure.

Philip Morrison (1915-2005), physicist. Participant in the Manhattan Project. Affiliations: Los Alamos National Laboratory, 1944-46; Cornell 1946-65; MIT 1965-2005.

Rudolf Ernst Peierls (1907-1995), theoretical physics (quantum theory of solids of electro-magnetic fields and of the solid nucleus; World War II work on atomic energy).

Vera C. Rubin (1928-), staff member at the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism of the Carnegie Institution since 1965; member of the National Academy of Science; her scientific work has centered on galaxies including large-scale motion in the universe and the rotational dynamics of individual galaxies.

Joseph Silk (1942-), English astronomer. Savilian Chair of Astronomy, University of Oxford.

Charles H. Townes (1915-) Bell Telephone Laboratories (1933-1947); Professor and Chairman, Columbia University Department of Physics; Executive Director, Columbia Radiation Laboratory; Provost and Professor of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; University Professor, University of California. Nobel Prize (physics, 1964).

Virginia Louise Trimble (1943-), Professor of Astronomy, History of Science, and Scientometrics at University of California, Irvine.

Frank N. von Hippel, nuclear arms control, policymaking for technology. Professor of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University.

Alvin Martin Weinberg (1915-2006), American nuclear physicist. Ph.D., mathematical biophysics (University of Chicago, 1939). Metallurgical Laboratory, University of Chicago; various administrative positions including director, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (1945-1992).

John Archibald Wheeler (1911-2008), theoretical physicist (atomic and nuclear theory, relativity theory, and cosmology). On the physics faculty at Princeton University from 1938; physicist, Manhattan Engineer District (1942-1945); and director, Center for Theoretical Physics, University of Texas at Austin (1976-2008).

York, Herbert Frank (1921-2009) worked on the Manhattan Project, directed the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, and served as nuclear arms advisor to Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Carter.

Restrictions on Use and Access

Researchers must have an approved access application on file in order to access archival materials. https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/item-request.

Selected Search Terms

These papers have been indexed in the International Catalog of Sources for History of Physics and Allied Sciences (ICOS) using the following terms. Those seeking related materials should search under these terms.

Organization and Arrangement of Collection

This collection is organized into a single series that is arranged in alphabetical order by author's last name.

Provenance and Acquisition Information

Received from Robert Ubell in May, July, and November 2006. Received from Robert Ubell, June 2005.

Processing Information

This collection was processed by Molly Marcusse in 2012.

Preferred Citation of Collection

Box [number], Folder [number], Robert Ubell files as editor of series Masters of Modern Physics. American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library & Archives, College Park, MD 20740, USA.

Administrative Information

Title

Finding Aid to the Robert Ubell files as editor of series Masters of Modern Physics, 1967-1996

Publisher

American Institute of Physics Niels Bohr Library & Archives

One Physics Ellipse
College Park, MD 20740
USA
nbl@aip.org

2012

Encoding Information

Machine-readable finding aid encoded by Molly Marcusse in 2012. Any revisions made to this finding aid occurred as part of the editing and encoding process.

Series I: Robert Ubell files as editor of series, Masters of Modern Physics

Box 1

Folder 1

American Institute of Physics Book Program- Amaldi, Edoardo, February 1989 - August 1989

Folder 2

American Institute of Physics Book Program - Bardeen, John, February 1989 - June 1993

Folder 3

American Institute of Physics Books - Bethe, Hans (1 of 2), April 1986 - March 1991

Folder 4

American Institute of Physics Books - Bethe, Hans (2 of 2), April 1986 - March 1991

Folder 5

American Institute of Physics Books - Boehm, Felix - miscellaneous other rejection letters, May 1995

Folder 6

American Institute of Physics Book Program - Branscomb, Lewis, July 1989 - August 1994

Folder 7

American Institute of Physics Book Program- Burbidge, Margaret/Geoffrey, February 1992 - September 1992

Folder 8

American Institute of Physics Books - Dicke, Robert H., September 1989 - April 1991

Folder 9

American Institute of Physics Book Program - Drell, Sidney D., June 1988 - December 1992

Folder 10

American Institute of Physics Book Program- Dyson, Freeman J., June 1988 - January 1989

Folder 11

American Institute of Physics Book Program - Fang, Li-Zhi, December 1988 - November 1990

Folder 12

American Institute of Physics Book Program - Fischbach, Ephraim, April 1986 - June 1994

Folder 13

American Institute of Physics - Ford, Kenneth W., March 1988 - July 1993

Folder 14

American Institute of Physics Book Program - Fowler, William A., November 1986 - June 1992

Folder 15

American Institute of Physics Book Program - Garwin, Richard L., November 1988 - September 1995

Folder 16

American Institute of Physics Book Program - General I, May 1986 - November 1986

Folder 17

American Institute of Physics, Masters of Modern Physics - Gibbons, John (1 of 2), May 1967 - December 1995

Folder 18

American Institute of Physics, Masters of Modern Physics - Gibbons, John (2 of 2), May 1967 - December 1995

Folder 19

American Institute of Physics, Masters of Modern Physics - Gibbons, John (1 of 2), February 1972 - February 1996

Folder 20

American Institute of Physics, Masters of Modern Physics - Gibbons, John (2 of 2), February 1972 - February 1996

Folder 21

American Institute of Physics Book Program - Gingerich, Owen, January 1989 - March 1995

Folder 22

American Institute of Physics Book Program - Ginzburg, Vitaly, January 1989 - July 1992

Folder 23

American Institute of Physics Books - Goldanskii, Vitallii (1 of 2), November 1979 - December 1995

Folder 24

American Institute of Physics Books - Goldanskii, Vitallii (2 of 2), November 1979 - December 1995

Folder 25

American Institute of Physics Book Program - Goldanskii, Vitallii, August 1992 - October 1995

Folder 26

American Institute of Physics Book Program - Goldberger, Marvin, January 1989 - June 1992

Folder 27

American Chemical Society - Hackerman, Norman, February 1994 - June 1994

Folder 28

American Institute of Physics Book Program - Hawking, Stephen, November 1986 - November 1991

Folder 29

American Chemical Society - Hoffman, Darleane, November 1971 - June 1994

Folder 30

American Institute of Physics Book Program - Holton, Gerald, November 1988 - November 1994

Folder 31

American Institute of Physics Book Series - Kapitza, S. P., August 1991 - April 1995

Folder 32

American Institute of Physics Book Program - Klein, Martin, December 1988 - August 1989

Folder 33

American Institute of Physics Book Program - Kuhn, Thomas, December 1988 - January 1989

Folder 34

American Institute of Physics Book Program - Lederman, Leon M., May 1988 - January 1992

Folder 35

American Institute of Physics Book Program - Mermin, David, June 1992 - October 1992

Folder 36

American Institute of Physics Book Program - Michelson-Morley Symposium, May 1986 - September 1986

Folder 37

American Institute of Physics Book Program - Morrison, Phillip, May 1988 - July 1994

Folder 38

American Chemical Society Creators - Osteryoung, Janet, November 1994

Folder 39

American Chemical Society Books - Pauling, Linus, February 1994 - September 1994

Folder 40

American Institute of Physics Book Program - Peierls, Sir Rudolf (1 of 2), June 1992 - March 1996

Folder 41

American Institute of Physics Book Program - Peierls, Sir Rudolf - (2 of 2), June 1992 - March 1996

Folder 42

American Institute of Physics Book Program - Rubbia, Carlo, May 1988 - September 1989

Folder 43

American Institute of Physics, Masters of Modern Physics - Rubin, Vera, December 1977 - August 1995

Folder 44

Rubin, Vera - Masters of Modern Physics - Deleted articles, extraneous material, and article permissions, 1984 - March 1996

Folder 45

American Institute of Physics Book Program - Sagan, Carl, May 1988 - December 1994

Folder 46

American Institute of Physics Book Program - Sagde'ev, Roald, November 1988 - December 1994

Folder 47

American Institute of Physics Book Program - Sakharov, Andrei, 1983 - December 1989

Folder 48

American Institute of Physics Book Program - Salam, Abdus, May 1988

Folder 49

American Institute of Physics Book Program - Samios, Nicholas, June 1992 - October 1992

Folder 50

American Institute of Physics Book Program - Sandage, Allan R., June 1992 - October 1992

Folder 51

American Institute of Physics Book Program - Schrieffer, John Robert, February 1989 - November 1991

Folder 52

American Institute of Physics Book Program - Schwinger, Julian, December 1988 - August 1989

Box 2

Folder 1

American Chemical Society Books - Seaborg, Glenn, May 1992 - November 1994

Folder 2

American Institute of Physics Book Program - Seaborg, Glenn T., September 1989 - October 1989

Folder 3

American Institute of Physics Book Program - Silk, Joseph I., December 1986 - November 1992

Folder 4

American Institute of Physics Book Program - Smith, Cyril Stanley, June 1992 - July 1992

Folder 5

American Institute of Physics Book Program - Smith, Joseph V., January 1986 - January 1987

Folder 6

American Institute of Physics Book Program - Thorne, Kip S., February 1989 - March 1989

Folder 7

American Institute of Physics Book Program - Townes, Charles H., May 1988 - August 1994

Folder 8

American Institute of Physics Book Program - Trimble, Virginia, August 1988 - May 1993

Folder 9

American Institute of Physics Book Program - Von Hippel, Frank, May 1988 - June 1992

Folder 10

American Institute of Physics Book Program - Weinberg, Alvin, November 1988 - December 1992

Folder 11

American Institute of Physics Book Program - Weinberg, Steven, May 1988 - August 1991

Folder 12

American Institute of Physics Book Program - Wheeler, John A., November 1986 - November 1995

Folder 13

American Institute of Physics Book Program - Wigner, Eugene P., September 1984 - September 1988

Folder 14

American Institute of Physics Book Program - Witten, Edward, June 1992 - October 1992

Folder 15

American Institute of Physics Book Program - York, Herbert, June 1992 - July 1994

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