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General Information
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 InformationContainer List
Series I: PapersRolf Wideröe papers, 1942-1945
Description of Collection
Repository
American Institute of Physics. Niels Bohr Library & Archives.
Papers created by
Wideröe, Rolf,
Size of collection
0.75 linear feet
1 flat manuscript box
1 manuscript box
Short description of collection
Scientific reports, notes, and letters which document the work of Rolf Wideröe and others in Germany during World War II on betatron development and related topics.
Language(s) of collection
English
Collection number:
AR136
Biographical Note
Physicist (accelerator and nuclear physics; medical application of physics). Engineer, Allemeine Elektrizitätsgesellschaft, Berlin, 1928-1932; Norsk Elektrisk og Brown Boveri, Oslo, 1940-1945; and Brown Boveri, Baden from 1946. Died 1996.
Scope and Contents of Collection
Scientific reports, notes, and letters document the work of Rolf Wideröe and others in Germany during World War II on betatron (a type of particle accelerator) development and related topics. In 1945, he took these papers to Norway where he was interned in a concentration camp near Oslo. While there, Wideröe wrote a detailed account of his research during the war, covering both the theoretical and practical questions of construction of the betatron, and was interviewed by Captain Gunnar Randers for the ALSOS Mission investigation of German atomic bomb research. Randers assembled this collection for a report to Samuel A. Goudsmit, head of the ALSOS Mission.
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.
Persons
Goudsmit, Samuel A. (Samuel Abraham), 1902-1978
Randers, Gunnar, 1914-
Wideröe, Rolf, 1902-
Subject terms
Atomic bomb.
Betatrons
Nuclear physics. Germany.
Nuclear physics. Research. Germany.
Particle accelerators.
World War, 1939-1945.
Genre terms
Organization and Arrangement of Collection
This collection is organized into a single series: Series I: Papers
Provenance and Acquisition Information
Received from Donald W. Kerst who had received them from Samuel A. Goudsmit, 1975.
Processing Information
This collection was processed by Melanie J. Mueller in 2014.
Preferred Citation of Collection
Box [number], Folder [number], Rolf Wideröe papers, 1942-1945. American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library & Archives, College Park, MD 20740, USA.
Administrative Information
Title
Finding Aid to the Rolf Wideröe papers, 1942-1945
Publisher
American Institute of Physics Niels Bohr Library & Archives
One Physics Ellipse
College Park, MD 20740
USA
nbl@aip.org
2014
Encoding Information
Machine-readable finding aid encoded by Melanie J. Mueller in 2014. Any revisions made to this finding aid occurred as part of the editing and encoding process.
Series I: Papers
| Box 1 | Folder 1 | Binder of notes, letters, reprints and manuscripts - Strahlentransformator, undated |
| Box 2 | Folder 1 | Documents from Gunnar Randers - Wideröe opus on betatron, microfilm of Wideröe's papers, copies from Wideröe's files, undated |
| Folder 2 | Gunnar Randers - visit to Wideröe in Oslo [betatron material], 1945 |
| Folder 3 | Wideröe file [compiled by Randers, betatron material], undated |
| Folder 4 | Wideröe files, undated |
| Folder 5 | Wideröe files, undated |
| Folder 6 | Report on the betatron, "Megavolt Laboratory," Wrist-Kellinghusen, written by Dr. Kollath (C. A. Baumann, Alsos), undated |