Lauritsen, Thomas (Nuclear Physicist)

Person

Staff Only

Dates

Existence: 1915 - 1973

Biographical/Historical

Background: Caltech Professor of Physics, 1946-1973; Caltech alumnus (BS, 1936; PhD, 1939).

Biographical/Historical

Description: The son of physicist Charles Lauritsen, Tommy Lauritsen completed his doctorate Caltech in collaboration with William Fowler. During World War II he joined the Caltech rocket development project, which by 1944 had produced over one million rockets. Lauritsen also participated in the Manhattan Project, working at Los Alamos during 1945. The postwar rebuilding of physics at Caltech, in which both Lauritsens--father and son--played a major role, established the Kellogg laboratory as a world center for basic research in nuclear physics and nuclear astrophysics.

Biographical/Historical

Collection Notes: Papers, 1945-1973. Dating largely after World War II, Thomas Lauritsen's papers consist of personal and scientific correspondence, papers relating to professional and advisory activities, research and teaching, and biographical material. Included is an oral history which is an important source for the life, work and views of Thomas Lauritsen, as well as for his father, Charles.

Collection size: 18 boxes, 9 linear ft.

Finding aid available at the Archives.

Photo of Thomas Lauritsen (PhotoNet).

See also: Charles Lauritsen.

Found in 8 Collections and/or Records:

Margaret Lauritsen Leighton Oral History Interview with Shelley Erwin, 1995-05-11 - 1995-06-23

Item

Scope and Contents Margaret was married to, first, Thomas Lauritsen, and after his death in 1973, to Robert B. Leighton. Her oral history is principly a reminiscence of the Lauritsen family, including her husband, Thomas, and his father, Charles Christian Lauritsen (both physicists at Caltech). For further information, see her profile, as well as the profiles of both of her husbands and her father-in-law. Abstract: An interview in three sessions, in May and June 1995, with Margaret Lauritsen Leighton, wife...

Dates: 1995-05-11 - 1995-06-23