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Institutional History
AbstractImportant DatesPlacesSubjectsCitationsRelationships
PeopleInstitutionsResources
Archival as AuthorArchival as SubjectPublished as AuthorPublished as SubjectNew York University. Department of Physics
Dates
1831 – present
Authorized Form of Name
New York University. Department of Physics
Additional Forms of Names
New York University. Dept. of Physics
Institutional History
Abstract
New York University was founded in 1831 and a strong physics curriculum was created when they acquired the Uptown Heights campus in the Bronx in 1894. A transition to modern physics occurred beginning in 1929 when Gregory Breit became Chairman of the Physics Department and he attracted numerous young researchers including Jenny Rosenthal Bramley, the first woman to receive a PhD in physics at an American institution. The Department is currently located in Greenwich Village, Manhattan with the faculty researching in areas such as astrophysics and cosmology, theoretical physics, condensed matter physics, biophysics, fluid dynamics, and applied mathematical physics.
Important Dates
1831New York University was founded, New York (N.Y.).
1885 – 1886Presumably the first year in which the University had a Professor of Physics, New York (N.Y.).
1898A former private residence was converted to become the new home of the Physics Department, Butler Hall, New York (N.Y.).
1904First PhD in Physics is awarded.
1920 – 1929F. Wheeler Loomis was on faculty.
1920s – 1930sThe first modern research of the department was in atomic and molecular spectroscopy.
1925 – 1942H. van Norman Hilberry was on faculty.
1926 – 1928Robert Mulliken was on faculty.
1929 – 1934Gregory Breit was on faculty.
1933 – 1934John Wheeler was on faculty.
1938 – 1946Eugene Feenberg was on faculty.
1945 – 1946Henry Primakoff was on faculty.
1950 – 2006Larry Spruch was on faculty.
1951 – 1968Bruno Zumino was on faculty.
1952 – presentBenjamin Bederson has been on faculty.
1959 – 1962Robert Kraichnan was on faculty.
1964 – 1969Malvin Ruderman was on faculty.
1971 – 1973Harry Swinney was on faculty.
1971 – 1974Herman Cummins was on faculty.
1973The Heights campus was sold to the City University of New York causing the Heights Physics Department to become part of the School of Engineering.
2005 – presentPaul Chaikin has been on faculty.
2007 – presentPaul Horn has been on faculty.
2010 – presentPierre Hohenberg has been on faculty.
2012 – presentSteven Koonin has been on faculty.
Places
Headquarters
Subjects
Physics -- Study and teaching.
Citations
Historical information from Benjamin Bederson and H. Henry Stroke, "History of the New York University Physics Department," Physics in Perspective 13 (2011): 260-328.
Relationships
People
Employees & Officers
Professor of Physics.
Received PhD (1950); Assistant Professor to Professor of Physics; Chair, Department of Physics; and Emeritus Professor of Physics.
Professor of Physics.
Silver Professor of Physics, Center for Soft Condensed Matter Research.
Professor of Physics.
Assistant Professor of Physics, Washington Square College.
Consultant in Physics.
Instructor in Physics, Washington Square College and Instructor to Assistant Professor, College of Arts and Sciences.
Professor of Physics and Professor Emeritus of Physics.
Professor of Physics.
Kraichnan, Robert H., 1928-2008
Senior Research Scientist.
Loomis, F. W. (Francis Wheeler), 1889-1976
Assistant Professor and Associate Professor of Physics.
Assistant Professor of Physics.
Primakoff, H. (Henry), 1914-1983
Received PhD (1938) and Assistant Professor of Physics.
Visiting Professor and Professor of Physics.
Assistant Professor; Associate Professor; Professor; and Emeritus Professor.
Assistant Professor of Physics.
Wheeler, John Archibald, 1911-2008
National Research Council (NRC) Fellow.
Research Associate and Assistant Professor to Professor of Physics.
PhD Students
Anderson, A. G. (Arthur George), 1926-
Received PhD in Physics (1958).
Received PhD (1950).
Holstein, Theodore David, 1915-1985
Received BS and PhD in Physics (1940).
Received PhD in Theoretical Physics (1944).
Received PhD in Nuclear Physics (1941).
Received PhD (1972).
Associates & Members
Beers, Yardley, 1913-
Doremus, Robert Ogden, 1824-1906
Ferguson, Walter Finnall Cross, 1898-
Fisher, Leon H. (Leon Harold), 1918-
Gerjuoy, Edward
Hering, D. W. (Daniel Webster), 1850-1938
Kelly, Katherine Milsted
Received BA (1942).
Lewis, H. W. (Harold Warren)
Marshak, Robert E. (Robert Eugene), 1916-1992
Simpson, John A. (John Alexander), 1916-2000
Received SM (1942) and PhD (1943).
Ungar, Eric E.
Varney, Robert N.
Institutions
Institutional Hierarchy
New York University
Associates
American Institute of Physics. Center for History of Physics
Participated in the study of multi-institutional collaborations.
Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences
Resources
Archival Resources
Author
Pages from catalogs listing the New York University Physics Department staff, 1900-1940.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Subject
Clifford Glenwood Shull collection, 1937-1997.
Hunt Library. University Archives.
Carnegie Mellon University.
4909 Frew Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
Daniel Hering papers, 1889-1939.
Archives. Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
New York University
70 Washington Square South, New York, NY 10012, USA
Draper family collection, 1835-1936.
Archives Center
Smithsonian Institution. National Museum of American History
MRC 601, 12th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20560, USA
Draper family collection, 1836-1982.
Archives. Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
New York University
70 Washington Square South, New York, NY 10012, USA
Eugene Feenberg correspondence, 1927-1958.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
John A. Simpson papers, 1940-1988.
The Joseph Regenstein Library. Department of Special Collections
University of Chicago
1100 East 57th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
Larry Spruch papers, 1943-2005 (bulk 1950-2002).
Archives. Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
New York University
70 Washington Square South, New York, NY 10012, USA
Oral history interview with Edward Gerjuoy, 2012 April 1, October 7, and 2013 April 14.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Eric Ungar, 2001 December 6.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Eugene Feenberg, 1973 April 13 and 14.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Harold Warren Lewis, 1986 July 6.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with John Archibald Wheeler, 1967 April 5.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Katharine Milsted Kelly, 1976 July 2.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Leon H. Fisher and Robert N. Varney, 2008 July 26.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Robert Marshak, 1970 June 15, 16, September 19, and October 4.
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
Robert Doremus lectures, 1872.
Archives. Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
New York University
70 Washington Square South, New York, NY 10012, USA
Serge A. Korff papers, 1928-1989, bulk 1950-1975.
Archives. Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
New York University
70 Washington Square South, New York, NY 10012, USA
Walter Finall Cross Ferguson autobiography, circa 1964.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
William F. Burroughs student notebook, 1858.
Archives. Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
New York University
70 Washington Square South, New York, NY 10012, USA
Yardley Beers autobiography, circa 1965.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Published Resources
Author
Subject
"History of the New York University Physics Department," Physics in Perspective 13 (2011): 260-328.