The Launching of the Coral Gables Conferences on High Energy Physics and Cosmology and the Establishment of the Center for Theoretical Studies at the University of Miami

Abstract

On this occasion of the 25^th Coral Gables Conference I shall present the history of initial formative phase of these conferences. Because of the important role played in launching the conferences and in establishing the Center for Theoretical Studies (CTS), the narration about J. Robert Oppenheimer will be included in some detail. The first Coral Gables Conference on “Symmetry Principles at High Energy” in January 1964 was followed by the second Coral Gables Conference (CGC.II) in January 1965, “Symmetry Principles at High Energy“, was held with even greater enthusiasm and dedication than CGC.I for which, as will be seen in the following presentation, there were quite a few reasons.

This paper is, with some modification, taken from the typescript of the author’s book with the provisional title “The Ascent of Gravity: Einstein’s Triumph, Paradigms, and Contemporary Physicists” which is to be published in 1997 or early 1998.