University of California, San Diego. Department of Physics

Institutional History

Abstract

Since its beginning, the University of California, San Diego's Department of Physics has been counted among the main physics departments in the country. Research occurs in a large range of areas including astrophysics and astronomy, biophysics, condensed matter physics, controlled fusion and plasma physics, elementary particle physics, and nonlinear dynamics. It also works with a number of campus research institutes and centers doing interdisciplinary work.

Department chairs

1959-61, Keith Brueckner.

1961-63, Walter Kohn.

1963-65, Norman Kroll.

1983-88, Norman Kroll.

1994-95, Robert Dynes.

Important Dates

1959 – 2014Keith Brueckner was on faculty.

1960Department of Physics was founded with the help of Keith Brueckner and Roger Revelle, La Jolla (San Diego, Calif.).

1960 – 1962Walter Elsasser was on faculty.

1960 – 1967Marshall Rosenbluth was on faculty.

1960 – 1972Maria Goeppert Mayer was on faculty.

1960 – 1979Walter Kohn was on faculty.

1960 – presentGeorge Feher has been on faculty.

1961 – 1980Bernd Matthias was on faculty.

1961 – presentHarry Suhl has been on faculty.

1962 – 1965Norman Rostoker was on faculty.

1962 – 2004Norman Kroll was on faculty.

1963 – 1964N. David Mermin was on faculty.

1963 – 1966Le Jeu Sham was on faculty.

1964 – 1966T. Maurice Rice was on faculty.

1964 – 1967Bruno Coppi was on faculty.

1965 – 1988Henry Booker was on faculty.

1965 – 2009Herbert York was on faculty.

1966 – 1981John Wheatley was on faculty.

1967 – 1969Norton Lang was on faculty.

1967 – 1991Hannes Alfvén was on faculty.

1967 – 1992John Malmberg was on faculty.

1967 – presentThomas O'Neil has been on faculty.

1968 – presentLe Jeu Sham has been on faculty.

1969 – 1971John Weeks was on faculty.

1969 – presentM. Brian Maple has been on faculty.

1972 – 1981Zachary Fisk was on faculty.

1973 – 1975Richard Webb was on faculty.

1986Donald Eigler was on faculty.

1986 – 1995Roger Dashen was on faculty.

1987 – 1990F. Duncan M. Haldane was on faculty.

1987 – 2000Frances Hellman was on faculty.

1987 – 2003Marshall Rosenbluth was on faculty.

1988 – 2013Harold Agnew was on faculty.

1989 – 1993Ann E. Nelson was on faculty.

1990 – 2004Robert Dynes was on faculty.

1990 – presentJose Onuchic has been on faculty.

1991 – 1996Zachary Fisk was on faculty.

1993 – 1999Marvin "Murph" Goldberg was on faculty.

Places

Headquarters

La Jolla (San Diego, Calif.)

Subjects

Physics -- Study and teaching.

Citations

From the University of California, San Diego Department of Physics' website.

Relationships

People

Employees & Officers

Agnew, Harold M.

Adjunct Professor.

Alfvén, Hannes

Professor of Physics.

Booker, Henry G.

Professor of Applied Physics.

Branscomb, Lewis M., 1926-

Adjunct Professor.

Brueckner, Keith A.

Helped found the Department; Professor of Physics; Chair, Department of Physics; and Emeritus Professor of Physics.

Case, Kenneth M.

Visiting Professor and Adjunct Professor, Institute of Nonlinear Studies.

Coppi, B.

Assistant Professor of Physics.

Dashen, Roger F.

Professor of Physics.

Dynes, Robert C.

Professor of Physics and Chair, Department of Physics.

Eigler, Donald

Received BA, PhD in 1984 (Physics), and Associate Research Physicist.

Elsasser, Walter M., 1904-

Professor.

Feher, George, 1924-

Professor of Physics and Research Professor of Physics.

Fisk, Zachary

Received PhD (Physics) in 1969, Research Physicist, and Professor of Physics.

Goldberger, Marvin L.

Professor of Physics and Emeritus Professor of Physics.

Haldane, F. Duncan M.

Professor of Physics.

Hellman, Frances

Assistant Professor to Associate Professor of Physics.

Jensen, J. Hans D.

Visiting Professor.

Kohn, Walter, 1923-2016

Professor of Physics and Chair, Department of Physics.

Kroll, Norman Myles, 1922-

Professor of Physics; Chair, Department of Physics; and Emeritus Professor of Physics.

Lang, Norton D.

Assistant Research Physicist.

Malmberg, J. H.

Professor of Physics.

Maple, M. Brian, 1939-

Received MS and PhD (Physics) in 1969; Assistant Research Physicist; Assistant Adjunct Professor of Physics; Acting Associate Professor of Physics; Associate Research Physicist; Associate Professor of Physics; Professor of Physics; Bernd T. Matthias Professor of Physics; and Director, Institute for Pure and Applied Physical Sciences.

Matthias, Bernd T., 1918-1980

Professor of Physics and Director, Institute for the Study of Matter.

Mayer, Maria Goeppert, 1906-1972

Professor.

Mermin, N. David

Research Associate.

Nagel, Sidney R.

Assistant Professor to Associate Professor of Physics, and Stein-Freiler Distinguished Professor of Physics.

Nelson, Ann E. (Ann Elizabeth)

Assistant Professor of Physics and Associate Professor of Physics.

O'Neil, T. M. (Thomas Michael), 1940-

Received MS (1964) and PhD (1965); Assistant Professor to Professor of Physics.

Onuchic, José

Assistant Professor; Associate Professor; and Professor of Physics.

Revelle, Roger, 1909-1991

Helped found the Department.

Rice, Thomas Maurice, 1939-

Research Associate in Physics.

Rosenbluth, M. N.

Professor and Professor Emeritus.

Rostoker, Norman

Professor of Physics.

Sham, L. J.

Physicist; Assistant Research Physicist; Lecturer in Physics; Associate Professor of Physics; and Professor of Physics.

Suhl, Harry

Professor of Physics and Emeritus Professor.

Webb, R. A. (Richard Alan)

Received MS (1970) and PhD (1973). Research Associate.

Weeks, John David

Research Associate.

Wheatley, John Charles

Professor of Physics.

York, Herbert F. (Herbert Frank)

Professor of Physics and Emeritus Professor of Physics.

PhD Students

Chu, Ching-wu, 1941-

Received PhD in 1968.

Feibelman, Peter J.

Obtained PhD (Physics) in 1967.

Associates & Members

Bass, Michael, 1939-

Huffer, Charles M. (Charles Morse), 1894-

Morrison, Philip

Peterson, L. E. (Laurence E.), 1931-

Sargent, Wallace Leslie William, 1935-

Stern, Marvin, 1923-

Teller, Edward, 1908-2003

Institutions

Institutional Hierarchy

University of California, San Diego

Associates

American Institute of Physics. Center for History of Physics

Participated in the study of multi-institutional collaborations.

White Mountain Research Station (University of California, Los Angeles)

Resources

Archival Resources

Subject

Keith A. Brueckner administrative records, 1959-1970.

Mandeville Special Collections Library

University of California, San Diego

9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA

Keith A. Brueckner papers, 1949-1983.

Mandeville Special Collections Library

University of California, San Diego

9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA

Keith A. Brueckner typescript of "First years at the University of California at San Diego, 1959 to 1965," 1994.

Mandeville Special Collections Library

University of California, San Diego

9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA

Laurence Peterson papers, 1954-1995.

Mandeville Special Collections Library

University of California, San Diego

9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA

Oral history interview with Charles M. Huffer, 1977 July 8.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Edward Teller, 1983 September 9.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Keith Allan Brueckner, 1986 July 2.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Marvin Stern, 1987 May 1.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Michael Bass, 1985 May 29.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Philip Morrison, 1967 February 7.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Wallace Sargent, 1989 January 20.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interviews with Lewis McAdory Branscomb, 2009-2010.

Archives. Pusey Library

Harvard University

Cambridge, MA 02138, USA

Oral history interviews. High-Energy Physics. Administrators, 1990-1991.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interviews. High-Energy Physics. Selected Experiments: SLAC-PEP-004-009: The Time Projection Chamber and 2-Gamma Detector at PEP, 1990-1991.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Roger Revelle sound recordings, 1984.

Mandeville Special Collections Library

University of California, San Diego

9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA

White Mountain Research Station administrative files, 1949-1996.

Mandeville Special Collections Library

University of California, San Diego

9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA