Menu ☰

Back to Top

Physics History Network

Over 1000 biographies of physicists and histories of institutions with information pertaining to their lives, careers, and research.

Tip: Search within this page by using Ctrl + F or ⌘ + F


Search Our Catalogs

Archives Books

Collections

Emilio Segré Visual Archives Digital Collections Oral Histories Archival Finding Aids Physics History Network Member Society Portals Ethical Cataloging Statement

Preservation and Support

Donating Materials Suggest a Book Purchase Saving Archival Collections Grants to Archives Documentation Projects History Newsletters

Center for History of Physics

Scholarship & Outreach

Main Navigation

HomeAboutTopic GuidesFeedback

Table of Contents

Biography

AbstractImportant DatesOccupationPlacesSubjects

Relationships

PeopleInstitutions

Resources

Archival as AuthorArchival as SubjectPublished as AuthorPublished as Subject

Robert V. Pound

Photo

Dates

May 16, 1919 – April 12, 2010

Authorized Form of Name

Pound, Robert V.

Additional Forms of Names

Pound, Robert (Robert Vivian), 1919-2010

Pound, Robert Vivian, 1919-2010

Biography

Abstract

Robert Pound was a Professor of Physics at Harvard University (1948-1989). Other institutional affiliations include the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Radiation Laboratory. His research interests include radar, microwave mixers, and electronics. He was part of the discovery of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, and he worked on the first test of Einstein's Equivalence Principle, via an experiement that led to the first accurate terrestrial measurement of the gravitational redshift.

Important Dates

May 16, 1919Birth, Ridgeway (Ont.).

1941Obtained BA, University of Buffalo, Buffalo (N.Y.).

1941 – 1942Research Physicist, Submarine Signal Company.

1942 – 1946Researcher, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Radiation Laboratory.

1945 – 2010Junior Fellow, Society of Fellows (1945-1948); Assistant Professor to Professor of Physics (1948-1968); Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics (1968-1989); Chair, Department of Physics (1968-1972); and Mallinckdrodt Emeritus Professor of Physics (1989-2010), Harvard University, Cambridge (Mass.).

1951Fulbright Scholar, Clarendon Laboratory, Oxford University.

1961Member, National Academy of Sciences.

1973Visiting Professor, Collège de France.

1979 – 1980Visiting Fellow, Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics (JILA), University of Colorado, Boulder.

1980Visiting Fellow, Merton College, Oxford University.

1982Visiting Zernike Professor, University of Groningen.

1986 – 1987Visiting Senior Scientist, Brookhaven National Laboratory.

1987Visiting Professor, University of Florida.

1990Awarded National Medal of Science.

April 12, 2010Death, Belmont (Mass.).

Occupation

Mechanics physicist.

Places

Birth

Ridgeway (Ont.)

Undergraduate Education

Buffalo (N.Y.)

Employment

Cambridge (Mass.)

Death

Belmont (Mass.)

Subjects

Gravity.

Mechanics.

Microwaves.

Nuclear magnetic resonance.

Radar.

Relativity (Physics).

Relationships

People

Family

Pound, Betty Anderson

Wife. Married in 1941.

Pound, John, 1955-

Son.

Advisors & Collaborators

Dean, Christopher

Advised by Pound at Harvard University, "The chlorine nuclear quadrupole resonance and its Zeeman effect."

Purcell, Edward M.

Post-doctorate advisor at Harvard University and both employed at Harvard University.

Rebka, Glen A.

Advised by Pound at Harvard University.

Torrey, Henry Cutler, 1911-

Advised by Pound at Harvard University.

Colleagues

Adler, Stephen L.

Both employed at Harvard University.

Bainbridge, Kenneth T. (Kenneth Tompkins), 1904-1996

Both employed at Harvard University.

Benedek, George Bernard, 1928-

Both employed at Harvard University.

Bloembergen, N.

Both employed at Harvard University.

Branscomb, Lewis M., 1926-

Both employed at Harvard University.

Brewer, Richard G.

Both employed at Harvard University.

Bridgman, P. W. (Percy Williams), 1882-1961

Both employed at Harvard University.

Brillouin, Léon, 1889-1969

Both employed at Harvard University.

Callan, Curtis G.

Both employed at Harvard University.

Coleman, Sidney, 1937-2007

Both employed at Harvard University.

Conant, James Bryant, 1893-1978

Both employed at Harvard University.

Cormack, Allan MacLeod, 1924-1998

Both employed at Harvard University.

Deser, S. (Stanley)

Both employed at Harvard University.

Furry, W. H. (Wendell Hinkle), 1907-

Both employed at Harvard University.

Gabrielse, Gerald

Both employed at Harvard University.

Gallagher, Thomas F., 1944-

Both employed at Harvard University.

Gates, S. James

Both employed at Harvard University.

Georgi, Howard

Both employed at Harvard University.

Glashow, Sheldon L.

Both employed at Harvard University.

Glauber, Roy J., 1925-

Both employed at Harvard University.

Gross, David J. (David Jonathan)

Both employed at Harvard University.

Halperin, Bertrand I.

Both employed at Harvard University.

Hooft, G. 't

Both employed at Harvard University.

Huth, John Edward

Both employed at Harvard University.

Jackiw, Roman W.

Both employed at Harvard University.

Jaffe, Arthur, 1937-

Both employed at Harvard University.

Kemble, Edwin C. (Edwin Crawford), 1889-

Both employed at Harvard University.

Kleppner, Daniel

Both employed at Harvard University.

Kohn, Walter, 1923-2016

Both employed at Harvard University.

Leggett, A. J. (Anthony J.)

Both employed at Harvard University.

Lyman, Theodore, 1874-1954

Both employed at Harvard University.

Maldacena, Juan Martin, 1968-

Both employed at Harvard University.

Martin, Paul Cecil, 1931-

Both employed at Harvard University.

Murray, Cherry Ann

Both employed at Harvard University.

Nelson, Ann E. (Ann Elizabeth)

Both employed at Harvard University.

Nelson, David R., 1951-

Both employed at Harvard University.

Pierce, George Washington, 1872-1956

Both employed at Harvard University.

Polchinski, Joseph Gerard

Both employed at Harvard University.

Politzer, H. David, 1949-

Both employed at Harvard University.

Quinn, Helen R.

Both employed at Harvard University.

Ramsey, Norman, 1915-2011

Both employed at Harvard University.

Randall, Lisa

Both employed at Harvard University.

Raney, William P.

Both employed at Harvard University.

Schwinger, Julian, 1918-1994

Both employed at Harvard University.

Shapiro, Marjorie

Both employed at Harvard University.

Spencer, Thomas, 1946-

Both employed at Harvard University.

Steinhardt, Paul J.

Both employed at Harvard University.

Street, Jabez Curry, 1906-

Both employed at Harvard University.

Strominger, Andrew Eben

Both employed at Harvard University.

Stubbs, Christopher

Both employed at Harvard University.

Tinkham, Michael

Both employed at Harvard University.

Vafa, Cumrun

Both employed at Harvard University.

Van Vleck, J. H. (John Hasbrouck), 1899-1980

Both employed at Harvard University.

Weinberg, Steven, 1933-

Both employed at Harvard University.

Weitz, David A.

Both employed at Harvard University.

Wilson, Kenneth G. (Kenneth Geddes), 1936-2013

Both employed at Harvard University.

Wilson, Robert R., 1914-2000

Both employed at Harvard University.

Wise, Mark B., 1953-

Both employed at Harvard University.

Witten, E.

Both employed at Harvard University.

Wu, Tai Tsun

Both employed at Harvard University.

Additional

Alvarez, Luis W., 1911-1988

Bitter, Francis, 1902-1967

Condon, Edward Uhler, 1902-1974

Devons, Samuel

Dicke, Robert H. (Robert Henry)

Frauenfelder, Hans, 1922-

Gamow, George, 1904-1968

Goudsmit, Samuel A. (Samuel Abraham), 1902-1978

Hahn, E. L. (Erwin Louis), 1921-

Loomis, Alfred L. (Alfred Lee), 1887-1975

Mössbauer, Rudolf L. (Rudolf Ludwig), 1929-

Pake, G. E. (George Edward)

Rabi, I. I. (Isidor Isaac), 1898-1988

Strandberg, M. W. P. (Malcolm Woodrow Pershing), 1919-

Tate, John T. (John Torrence), 1889-1950

Townes, Charles H.

Watkins, George D.

Weisskopf, Victor Frederick, 1908-2002

Zacharias, Jerrold Reinach, 1905-1986

Institutions

Major Positions

Brookhaven National Laboratory

Visiting Senior Scientist.

Collège de France

Visiting Professor.

Harvard University. Department of Physics

Junior Fellow, Society of Fellows; Assistant Professor to Professor of Physics; Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics; Department Chair; and Mallinckrodt Emeritus Professor of Physics.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Radiation Laboratory

Researcher.

Raytheon Company

Research Physicist, Submarine Signal Company.

Rijksuniversiteit te Groningen

Visiting Zernike Professor.

University of Florida. Department of Physics

Visiting Professor.

Professional Activities & Affiliations

Bell Telephone Laboratories

Clarendon Laboratory

Fulbright Scholar.

Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics

Visiting Fellow.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics

Merton College.

Visiting Fellow.

National Academy of Sciences (U.S.)

Member.

University of Buffalo. Department of Physics

Obtained BA (1941).

Resources

Archival Resources

Author

Oral history interview with Robert V. Pound, 1976 November 30.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral History interview with Robert V. Pound, 2003 May 22 and 23.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Robert V. Pound, 2006 September 23, November 4, 18, 2007 February 19 and April 22.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Robert Vivian Pound miscellaneous papers, undated.

Archives. Pusey Library

Harvard University

Cambridge, MA 02138, USA

The story of some experiments in physics, 1987.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Subject

On being a student of Norman Ramsey, 2017.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Charles H. Townes, 1979 June 18 and 20.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Edward Mills Purcell, 1977 June 8 and 14.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Malcolm Woodrow Pershing Strandberg, 1983 June 15.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Nicolaas Bloembergen, 1983 June 27.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Robert V. Pound: a remembrance, 2010.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Published Resources

Author

"Weighing Photons, I," Physics in Perspective 2 (2000): 224-268

"Weighing Photons, II," Physics in Perspective 3 (2001): 4-51

Subject

"Robert Vivian Pound and the Discovery of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance in Condensed Matter," Physics in Perspective 12 (2010): 180-189

"Robert Vivian Pound: 1919-2010", Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences

Robert Vivian Pound Physics Today obituary.