Center for History of Physics

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• Learn more about astronomy, biographies, physics, science, and scientists.

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The Center for History of Physics preserves and makes known the history of modern physics and allied fields including astronomy, geophysics, optics, and the like. Recognizing the pressing need for reliable history, in 1961 the American Institute of Physics established a Center for History of Physics.

Here you will find oral history resources strong in the areas of quantum physics, nuclear physics, modern astrophysics, solid state physics, laser science, modern multi-institutional collaborations in high-energy physics, space science and geophysics, and physicists in industry. The collection includes over 3,000 hours of interviews with some 1,500 physicists, astronomers and others. Most of the interviews are transcribed; most have indexes, abstracts, and detailed tables of contents, copies of which are available upon request.

A photograph collection contains 25,000 historical photographs, slides, lithographs, engravings, and other visual materials focusing on American physicists and astronomers of the twentieth century. Thousands of these images are online.

The Exhibits Hall highlights the following: Marie Curie and Radioactivity, Albert Einstein, The History of the Transistor, Earnest O. Lawrence and the Cyclotron, Werner Heisenberg, Papers of Great American Physicists, Andrei Sakharov, The Discovery of the Electron, The Discovery ofGlobal Warming, and Moments of Discovery: Fission, Pulsar.

In addition, teachers will find a collection of sample syllabi which can be used as an aid to teaching and studying the history of physics and related topics.