Hugh Everett addition to papers,
1935-1991
Repository
American Institute of Physics. Niels Bohr Library & Archives.
Papers created by
Everett, Hugh
Size of collection
4 linear feet
4 records boxes
Short description of collection
Additional papers from Hugh Everett III, includes documents from his undergraduate and graduate education, as well as documents from the companies he worked for and founded. Includes scientific notes, reprints, and correspondence with other physicists.
Language(s) of collection
English
Collection number:
AR20111063
Hugh Everett (1930-1982). Mathematical physics (quantum mechanics, general relativity, theory of games). Head, mathematics section, weapons systems evaluation group, Institute for Defense Analysis (1956-1964); director of Lambda Division, Defense Research Corp. (1964-1965); and president, Lambda Corporation from 1965 to 1968. He left Lambda Corp. in 1973. Founder and chairman, DBS Corporation (1973-1982). Founder, Key Travel Agency, 1978.
This collection includes draft and final versions of Everett’s long and short Ph.D. theses and the early notes that led to these published works, Everett’s correspondence regarding his relative state formulation of pure wave mechanics, and miscellaneous biographical material. Several items from this collection are hosted online by the University of California, Irvine.
Series I: Education is divided into sub-series of St. John’s College High School, Catholic University of America (Undergraduate, 1950-1953), and Princeton University (Graduate, 1953-1956). This series contains general academic correspondence, school assignments and notes, report cards, sample graduate examinations, work on Game Theory (done for a National Science Foundation fellowship), notes for his thesis, a handwritten draft of his thesis, and a bound copy of his thesis titled “The Theory of the Universal Wave Function.” Everett’s thesis argues that all objects, regardless of their size obey quantum laws, meaning they can be in two places at once. His thesis also denies the Copenhagen Interpretation (Bohr) of quantum mechanics which states that the place of an object is fixed once the object has been observed. His theory was not well received and Everett left work in academia.
Series II: Weapons Systems Evaluation Group contains documents relating to Everett’s first job, working in the Weapons Systems Evaluation Group in the Institute for Defense Analyses (1956-1964). This series includes correspondence, published reports, notification of salary changes, directories, and various project files.
Series III: Lambda Corporation contains documents relating to the foundation of Lambda Corp. and Everett’s work at the company (1964-1973). This series includes correspondence, published reports, notably Volume I of the report on Brisk/Frisk II that assessed potential nuclear fallout, patent applications, legal documents relating to patents, and documents on the merger of Lambda Corp. with the General Research Corporation.
Series IV: DBS Corporation contains documents related to the founding and operations of DBS Corp. (1973-1982). This series includes correspondence, project files, printed reports, and memoranda.
Series V: Reprints contains reprints of scientific articles spanning from March 1950 to January 1991. These articles cover topics such as quantum mechanics and game theory.
Series VI: Scientific Notes contains handwritten notes on quantum mechanics, most are undated.
Series VII: Correspondence contains correspondence with other physicists, such as John Wheeler, Charles Misner, Aage Petersen, and Bryce DeWitt, as well as correspondence with Everett’s family, dating from November 1935 to April 1980. The majority of the correspondence involves debates on quantum mechanics and inquiries about Everett’s interpretation.
Series VIII: Miscellaneous contains the remaining documents in the collection. This series includes communication about jobs Everett applied for and did not take, newspaper and magazine clippings, science related mailings, information on the Washington Area Committee for the Abolition of the House Un-American Activities Committee, computer program outputs, documents from Key Travel Agency (opened in 1978), documents from after Everett’s death in 1982, a referee report written by Bryce DeWitt to the American Journal of Physics (ca. 1988), and two scrapbooks containing photographs taken by Everett.
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.
Few folders are restricted.
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.
Persons
Bohr, Niels, 1885-1962
DeWitt, Bryce S. (Bryce Seligman), 1923- .
Everett, Hugh.
Everett, Nancy.
Frank, Philipp G.
Galiano, Robert
Groenewold, Hilbrand J.
Jammer, Max
Komar, Arthur
Levy-Lablond, Jean-Marc
Margenau, Henry, 1901-
Misner, Charles
Petersen, Aage
Pugh, George E.
Stern, Alexander W.
Wheeler, John Archibald, 1911-2008
Wiener, Norbert
Institutions
Catholic University of America
Lambda Corporation
Pentagon
Princeton University.
St. John's College High School
Weapons Systems Evaluation Group
Subject terms
Physics. Study and teaching.
Quantum theory.
Genre terms
Articles.
Contracts.
Correspondence.
Directories
Essays.
Patents
Personnel records.
Photographs.
Publications.
Reprints.
Research notes.
Scrapbooks.
This collection is organized into eight series:
- Series I. Education
- Series II. Weapons Systems Evaluation Group
- Series III. Lambda Corporation
- Series IV. DBS Corporation
- Series V. Reprints
- Series VI. Scientific Notes
- Series VII. Correspondence
- Series VIII. Miscellaneous
Gift of Mark Everett, 2011.
This collection was processed by
Molly Marcusse in
2013.
Final processing completed by Amanda Nelson in October 2016.
Box [number], Folder [number], Hugh Everett addition to papers, 1935-1991. American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library & Archives, College Park, MD 20740, USA.
Title
Finding Aid to the Hugh Everett addition to papers, 1935-1991
Publisher
American Institute of Physics Niels Bohr Library & Archives
One Physics Ellipse
College Park, MD 20740
USA
nbl@aip.org
2013
Encoding Information
Machine-readable finding aid encoded by Molly Marcusse in 2013. Any revisions made to this finding aid occurred as part of the editing and encoding process.
Subseries IA: St. John's College High School
| Box 1 |
Folder 1 |
Various documents from St. John's College High School, March 1944-1948 |
|
Folder 2 |
St. John's College "The Sabre", November 1945-June 1947 |
|
Folder 3 |
St. John's College 1946 yearbook, 1946 |
Subseries IB: Catholic University of America
| Box 1 |
Folder 4 |
"Chemical Process Principles Charts" by Hougen and Watson, October 1948 |
|
Folder 5 |
"Fluid Flow Through Randomly Packed Beds of Raschig Rings" by Hugh Everett III and W. J. Taylor, circa 1950-1953 |
|
Folder 6 |
I have a new theory!, circa 1950-1953 |
|
Folder 7 |
"The Hollow Men" by T. S. Eliot for English Literature 52-C, May 1951 |
|
Folder 8 |
Technical analysis notes - Chemical Engineering 311, 1951 |
|
Folder 9 |
The DuPont Company and the College Graduate, 1951 |
|
Folder 10 |
Strength of materials - Chemical Engineering 335 and 352, 1951-1952 |
|
Folder 11 |
The Society of the Sigma Xi - official information, October 1952 |
|
Folder 12 |
"A Simplification of the Procedure of Determining the Basic Solutions of Matrix Games" by Hugh Everett III, 1953 |
Subseries IC: Princeton University
| Box 1 |
Folder 13 |
General graduate examinations, February 1935-May 1955 |
|
Folder 14 |
Thesis information for physics graduate stuents, November 1953 |
|
Folder 15 |
Lecture notes - Vector space and spectral decomposition - Eugene Wigner, 1954-1955 |
|
Folder 16 |
Selective service system college student certificate, June 1955 |
|
Folder 17 |
"Probability in Wave Mechanics" by Hugh Everett III, 1955 |
|
Folder 18 |
"Objective vs. Subjective Probability" by Hugh Everett III, 1955 |
|
Folder 19 |
Misner's opus - draft of Misner's thesis, March 1955-May 1957 |
|
Folder 20 |
Attrition games - Isbell's papers, December 1952-1955 |
|
Folder 21 |
"Continuous Time Recursive Games" by Hugh Everett III, circa 1953-1956 |
|
Folder 22 |
"Continuous Time Recursive Games" notes, circa 1953-1956 |
|
Folder 23 |
Game theory, circa 1953-1956 |
|
Folder 24 |
Game with delayed information, circa 1953-1956 |
|
Folder 25 |
Games conference, January-February 1955 |
|
Folder 26 |
Formal work on game theory, January 1955-1957 |
|
Folder 27 |
"Recursive Games" by Hugh Everett III, 1955 |
|
Folder 28 |
"Recursive Games" by Hugh Everett III from "Contributions to the Theory of Games, Volume III", 1955 |
|
Folder 29 |
Thesis materials (folder 1 of 2), circa 1954-1957 |
|
Folder 30 |
Thesis materials (folder 2 of 2), circa 1954-1957 |
|
Folder 31 |
Correlation index, circa 1954-1957 |
|
Folder 32 |
Notes on quantum mechanics thesis, circa 1954-1957 |
|
Folder 33 |
Handwritten thesis notes, circa 1954-1957 |
|
Folder 34 |
Thesis draft, circa 1954-1957 |
|
Folder 35 |
Thesis loose draft and notes, circa 1954-1957 |
|
Folder 36 |
Thesis early drafts, circa 1954-1957 |
|
Folder 37 |
Thesis footnotes, circa 1954-1957 |
|
Folder 38 |
Thesis loose notes, circa 1954-1957 |
|
Folder 39 |
Information formulas, circa 1954-1957 |
|
Folder 40 |
Princeton University Press "Many Worlds Interpretation" royalties and receipts, October 1955-April 1980 |
|
Folder 41 |
"Quantitative Measure of Correlation" by Hugh Everett III, 1955 |
|
Folder 42 |
"On the Foundations of Quantum Mechanics" by Hugh Everett III - PhD thesis, March 1957 |
|
Folder 43 |
"'Relative State' Formulation of Quantum Mechanics" by Hugh Everett III, July 1957 |
|
Folder 44 |
"Assessment of Everett's 'Relative State' Formulation of Quantum Theory" by John Wheeler, July 1957 |
|
Folder 45 |
"The Theory of the Universal Wave Function" by Hugh Everett III - PhD long-form thesis, 1957 |
| Box 2 |
Folder 1 |
Untitled paper - University of Wisconsin and the Institute for Defense Analyses, undated |
|
Folder 2 |
Annual Report: Institute for Defense Analyses, March 1956 |
|
Folder 3 |
Correspondence relating to Weapons Systems Evaluation Group (WSEG), March 1956-September 1966 |
|
Folder 4 |
Various project files, July 1956-January 1970 |
|
Folder 5 |
Institute for Defense Analyses - introduction manual, circa 1956-1964 |
|
Folder 6 |
Notification of salary changes, February 1957-January 1964 |
|
Folder 7 |
Weapons Systems Evaluation Group (WSEG) directory, December 1959 |
|
Folder 8 |
Who's Who in Weapons Systems Evaluation Group (WSEG), February 1960 |
|
Folder 9 |
Institute for Defense Analyses - "Stochastic Ascent" by R. C. Buck, June 1960 |
|
Folder 10 |
Introduction to Weapons Systems Evaluation Group, July 1960 |
|
Folder 11 |
"Generalized Lagrange Multiplier Method for Solving Problems of Optimum Allocation of Resources" by Hugh Everett III, August 1962 |
|
Folder 12 |
Operations Research - Volume II, Number 3, May 1963-June 1963 |
|
Folder 13 |
Protection Factor Estimator, May 1964 |
| Box 2 |
Folder 14 |
Correspondence relating to Lambda Corporation, January 1964-February 1974 |
|
Folder 15 |
Lambda background information, circa 1964 |
|
Folder 16 |
The CODE50 Model, circa 1964-1973 |
|
Folder 17 |
The CODE50 Model User's Manual, circa 1964-1973 |
|
Folder 18 |
Lambda Corporation -- a brief description, September 1965-January 1966 |
|
Folder 19 |
Various Lambda Corporation projects (folder 1 of 2), November 1965-May 1973 |
|
Folder 20 |
Various Lambda Corporation projects (folder 2 of 2), November 1965-May 1973 |
|
Folder 21 |
Lambda Report 2 - Brisk/Frisk II: A Damage Assessment System - Volume I, June 1966 |
|
Folder 22 |
Lambda Report 3 - "An Optimization Study of Blast Shelter Deploment" by David L. Mitchell, September 1966 |
|
Folder 23 |
"Analysis in Defense Decisions" by Alain Enthoven, September 1966 |
|
Folder 24 |
Programme for North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Conference on Operational Research in the Strategic Duel, September 1966 |
|
Folder 25 |
Lambda Paper 6 - "Defense Models IV" by Robert J. Galiano and Hugh Everett III, March 1967 |
|
Folder 26 |
Lambda Corporation - General Research Corporation (GRC) merger (folder 1 of 2), March 1968-November 1972 |
|
Folder 27 |
Lambda Corporation - General Research Corporation (GRC) merger (folder 2 of 2), March 1968-November 1972 |
|
Folder 28 |
Patent applications - drafts, December 1968-February 1972 |
|
Folder 29 |
Lambda Proposal 69-27 (revised) - Proposal for Lambda Support of the Merck Plant Modernization Program, December 1969 |
|
Folder 30 |
Lambda Data Management System, December 1970 |
|
Folder 31 |
The Lambda Approach, 1970 |
|
Folder 32 |
Computer Program Protection Anti-Copy System - drafts, October 1971 |
|
Folder 33 |
School Desegregation with Minimum Busing, December 1971 |
|
Folder 34 |
A Syllabus of Models for Economic, Personnel and Force Effectiveness Analysis, December 1971 |
|
Folder 35 |
School desegregation busing study, circa 1971-1972 |
|
Folder 36 |
Patent application - legal correspondence, February-December 1972 |
|
Folder 37 |
School desegregation alternatives in Prince George's County, April-August 1972 |
| Box 3 |
Folder 1 |
General Research Corporation - Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) study, April 1972 |
|
Folder 2 |
Notification of personnel action, July 1973 |
| Box 3 |
Folder 3 |
Hearing before the Subcommittee on Arms Control, International Law and Organization, September 1974 |
|
Folder 4 |
Various DBS Corporaton projects, July 1973-July 1982 |
|
Folder 5 |
Memorandum on Board of Directors meeting, March 1975 |
|
Folder 6 |
Naval Analysis Programs Description of Study Areas, December 1975 |
|
Folder 7 |
"Development of Software for Computer-Assisted Model Simplification Task 2 Design Principles and Testing Procedures Topical Report" by Hugh Everett III, December 1979 |
| Box 3 |
Folder 8 |
"Nuclear Mutation" by John Wheeler, March 1950 |
|
Folder 9 |
"Defining Invariants of a Metric Space" by Arthur Komar, circa 1952-1956 |
|
Folder 10 |
"Stochastic Games" by L. S. Shapley, October 1953 |
|
Folder 11 |
"Conditional Monte Carlo for Normal Samples" by Hale F. Trotter and John W. Tukey, March 1954 |
|
Folder 12 |
"Green's and Neumann's Programs for Differential Forms on Riemannian Manifolds" by P. E. Connor, December 1954 |
|
Folder 13 |
"Geons" by John Wheeler, January 1955 |
|
Folder 14 |
"Configuration Space Methods in Relativistic Quantum Field Theory I" by A. S. Wightman and S. S. Schweber, May 1955 |
|
Folder 15 |
"A Class of Game Solutions" by J. R. Isbell, June 1955 |
|
Folder 16 |
"Quasi-bound States of the Pion-Nuclear System in the Lowest T-D Approximation" by B. P. Nigam and H. P. Noyes, August 1955 |
|
Folder 17 |
"Die Statistische Deutung der Quantenmechanik" by Max Born [in German], 1955 |
|
Folder 18 |
"On the Stability of Certain Economic Systems" by E. Burger, October 1956 |
|
Folder 19 |
"A Septet of Sibyls" by John Archibald Wheeler, October 1956 |
|
Folder 20 |
"Atoms and Human Knowledge" address by Niels Bohr, 1956 |
|
Folder 21 |
"Information Theory and Statistical Mechanics II" by E. T. Jaynes, March 1957 |
|
Folder 22 |
"Geodynamics" by Misner and Wheeler, December 1957 |
|
Folder 23 |
"On the Question of a Neutrino Analog to Electric Charge" by John Klauder and John A. Wheeler, 1957 |
|
Folder 24 |
"Quantum Theory and the Foundations of Probability" by B. O. Koopman, 1957 |
|
Folder 25 |
"A General Wave Theory" by Herbert S. Ingham, March 1958 |
|
Folder 26 |
"A Property of Brownian Motion Paths" by H. F. Trotter, September 1958 |
|
Folder 27 |
"Zum Ergodensatz und zum Begriff der Makroskopischen Observablen" by Gunther Ludwig [in German], 1958 |
|
Folder 28 |
"The Human Preserve" by I. J. Good, April 1964 |
|
Folder 29 |
"The Everett Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics" by Neill Graham, September 1970 |
|
Folder 30 |
"On the Hypothesis that the Schrodinger Equation is Exact" by J. S. Bell, September 1971 |
|
Folder 31 |
"The Many Universes Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics" by Bryce S. DeWitt, 1971 |
|
Folder 32 |
"Retrodiction in Quantum Theory" by Frederik J. Belinfante, 1972 |
|
Folder 33 |
"An Approach to the Realistic Explanation of Quantum Mechanics" by P. J. Werbos, September 1973 |
|
Folder 34 |
"A Method for Obtaining Digital Signature and Public-key Cryptosystems" by Ronald L. Rivest, Adi Shamir, and Len Adleman, April 1977 |
|
Folder 35 |
"The Quantum Mechanics of Seeing" by Arthur A. Broyles, May 1982 |
|
Folder 36 |
"L'univers Ramifie Selen Everett, Wheeler, DeWitt: Etude Logique et Quelques Indications Techniques" by R. Fraisse [in French], August 1990-January 1991 |
| Box 3 |
Folder 37 |
General feedback, undated |
|
Folder 38 |
Uncertainty principle - information wise, undated |
|
Folder 39 |
Relativistic rocket - time relations, undated |
|
Folder 40 |
Bright ideas, undated |
|
Folder 41 |
General relativity - doubling, undated |
|
Folder 42 |
"Sum or Smear" formulas, undated |
|
Folder 43 |
Handwritten abstract drafts, undated |
|
Folder 44 |
Feynman notes, undated |
|
Folder 45 |
Class mechanics, undated |
|
Folder 46 |
Statistical mechanics - thermo, undated |
|
Folder 47 |
Maxwell equations in general relativity, undated |
|
Folder 49 |
Constants and dimensions, undated |
|
Folder 50 |
Formulae, undated |
|
Folder 51 |
Nuclear physics, undated |
|
Folder 52 |
Miscellaneous facts, undated |
|
Folder 53 |
Quantum mechanics (folder 1 of 2), undated |
|
Folder 54 |
Quantum mechanics (folder 2 of 2), undated |
| Box 3 |
Folder 55 |
Correspondence with Margenau, November 1935-April 1957 |
|
Folder 56 |
Academic correspondence, April 1949-July 1977 |
| Box 4 |
Folder 1 |
General correspondence, August 1955-December 1989 |
|
Folder 2 |
Correspondence with Wheeler, September 1955-March 1979 |
|
Folder 3 |
Correspondence from Wheeler to Everett and others, October 1955-December 1957 |
|
Folder 4 |
Correspondence with Wheeler, Misner, and Komar [in French], December 1955-October 1956 |
|
Folder 5 |
Correspondence between Wheeler and Stern with comments by Everett, May 1956 |
|
Folder 6 |
Correspondence with Petersen, May 1956-March 1959 |
|
Folder 7 |
Correspondence from Groenewold to Wheeler and Everett, April 1957 |
|
Folder 8 |
Correspondence with Wiener, April 1957-May 1957 |
|
Folder 9 |
Correspondence with DeWitt, May 1957 |
|
Folder 10 |
Correspondence with Frank, May-August 1957 |
|
Folder 11 |
Correspondence with Podolski, March 1959 |
|
Folder 12 |
Correspondence with family, July-August 1964 |
|
Folder 13 |
Correspondence with Jammer, August-September 1973 |
|
Folder 14 |
Correspondence with DeWitt, March 1974 |
|
Folder 15 |
Correspondence with Levy-Leblond, 1976-November 1977 |
|
Folder 16 |
Correspondence with Berley, February 1978 |
|
Folder 17 |
Correspondence with Raub, April 1980 |
| Box 4 |
Folder 18 |
Instruction Book for Operation and Maintenance of Interphone Equipment RC-73, November 1942 |
|
Folder 19 |
"The Bone of Mutt'sburg" by Hugh Everett III, before 1944 |
|
Folder 20 |
Miscellaneous documents, 1947-September 1990 |
|
Folder 21 |
Positions applied for and not taken, June 1956 |
|
Folder 22 |
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) press release announcing new division of sponsored research, September 1956 |
|
Folder 23 |
National Science Foundation register survey, May 1957 |
|
Folder 24 |
Assorted newspapers and magazine clippings, September 1957-November 1987 |
|
Folder 25 |
"Unity of Knowledge" by Niels Bohr and "Niels Bohr's Philosophy", 1958-April 1963 |
|
Folder 26 |
Washington Area Committee for Abolition of the House Un-American Activities Committee, December 1962 |
|
Folder 27 |
Assorted science related mailings, August 1963-October 1979 |
|
Folder 28 |
Family and personal documents, August 1975 |
|
Folder 29 |
Transcripts of Misner interview with Everett, May 1977-December 1990 |
|
Folder 30 |
CORRECTN, January 1978-January 1979 |
|
Folder 31 |
INVCHK, January 1978-February 1979 |
|
Folder 32 |
Key travel agency documents, February 1978 |
|
Folder 33 |
Program listings, December 1978-January 1979 |
|
Folder 34 |
Travel agency names, circa 1978 |
|
Folder 35 |
ACCREC, February 1979 |
|
Folder 36 |
Miscellaneous documents after death of Hugh Everett III, November 1982-January 1990 |
|
Folder 37 |
Bryce DeWitt referee report to American Journal of Physics [Restricted], circa 1988 |
|
Folder 38 |
Tentative contents for "Quantum Theory of Measurement", undated |
|
Folder 40 |
"The Heart's Landscape", undated |
|
Folder 41 |
Handwritten notes, undated |
|
Folder 42 |
Photo album, undated |
|
Folder 43 |
Photo album, undated |
|
Folder 44 |
Frisk test run, circa 1966 |
|
Folder 45 |
Scientific documents, undated |
