Abstract
I explore the history of physics in Washington, D.C., and its environs through a tour of notable sites and personalities. Highlights include visits to the Smithsonian and Carnegie Institutions, stops at the Einstein Memorial, George Washington University, the University of Maryland, and the American Center for Physics, and biographical sketches of physicists Joseph Henry, George Gamow, Edward Teller, and others who worked in the District of Columbia.
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Notes
John S. Rigden, Chair of the Historic Sites Committee of the American Physical Society, presented a plague to Albany Academy on April 27, 2007, to honor the pioneering work of Joseph Henry on electromagnetism, in particular his discovery of self-induction.
Curtis Callan, Vice President of the American Physical Society, presented a plague to Bell Labs on December 9, 2008, to commemorate the discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation.
The list of participants on the plaque is far from complete. They also included L. Baroff, H.A. Bethe, F. Bitter, N. Bjerrum, E. Bohr, N. Bohr, G. Breit, V. Bush, K. Cohen, C.L. Critchfield, E. Fermi, J.A. Fleming, H. Grayson-Smith, L.R. Hafstad, N.P. Heydenburg, R. Jacobs, E.A. Johnson, H. Kuper, F. London, R.C. Lord, Jr., A.J. Mahan, J.E. Mayer, R.C. Meyer, F. Mohler, R.D. Potter, I.I. Rabi, R.B. Roberts, L. Rosenfeld, F.D. Rossini, F. Seitz, A.L. Sklar, C.F. Squire, M.A. Tuve, G.E. Uhlenbeck, E.H. Vestine, J.H. Van Vleck, P. Wang, O.R. Wulf; see Stuewer, “Bringing the news” (Ref. 26), p. 55, picture caption.
Fleming succeeded Bauer as Director of the DTM in 1935.
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Quoted in Allan Sandage, Centennial History of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. Vol. I. The Mount Wilson Observatory: Breaking the Code of Cosmic Evolution (Cambridge, New York, Port Melbourne, Madrid, and Cape Town: Cambridge University Press, 2004), p. 29.
Ibid.
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Brown, Centennial History. Vol. II. Department of Terrestrial Magnetism (ref. 16), pp. 81–84.
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Russell J. Hemley, “Erskine Williamson, Extreme Conditions, and the Birth of Mineral Physics,” Phys. Today 59 (April 2006), 50–56.
Acknowledgments
I thank Roger H. Stuewer for suggesting this topic, for his thoughtful guidance throughout this project, and for his careful editorial work on my paper. I also thank Gregory Good for his helpful suggestions on it.
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Paul Halpern is Professor of Physics at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia. He has recently served on the Executive Committee of the Forum on the History of Physics of the American Physical Society.
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Halpern, P. Washington: A DC Circuit Tour. Phys. Perspect. 12, 443–466 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00016-010-0029-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00016-010-0029-2
Keywords
- Ralph A. Alpher
- Louis Agricola Bauer
- Gregory Breit
- Stephen G. Brush
- Steven Chu
- John Adam Fleming
- Wendy Freedman
- George Gamow
- Sylvester James Gates
- George Ellery Hale
- Joseph Henry
- Robert Herman
- Edwin Hubble
- Shirley Ann Jackson
- Vera C. Rubin
- Edward Teller
- John S. Toll
- Merle Tuve
- Erskine Williamson
- Albert Einstein Memorial
- American Center for Physics
- American Institute of Physics
- Carnegie Institution of Washington
- Department of Terrestrial Magnetism
- Marion Koshland Science Museum
- National Academy of Sciences
- Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
- Smithsonian Institution
- U.S. Department of Energy