Nobel Prize winners

Abstract A selection of the course and teaching notes, correspondence, technical files, and photographs of Carl D. Anderson (1905-1991) form the collection known as the Carl D. Anderson Papers in the Archives of the California Institute of Technology. Working under Robert A. Millikan at Caltech, Anderson conducted experiments on the penetrating radiation known as cosmic rays with a magnet cloud chamber, and in 1936 he won the Nobel Prize in physics for his discovery of the positive electron, or...

Abstract George Wells Beadle served as Chairman of the Biology Division at the California Institute of Technology (1946-1961); President of the University of Chicago (1961-1968); recipient of numerous prestigious awards including the Nobel Prize in Physiology for his studies in genetics (1958); member of councils and boards both in government and the private sector; awarded honorary degrees from many universities, including Yale (1947), Oxford (1959), Brown (1964) and The University of Michigan...

Abstract This collection encompasses most of Delbrück's lifetime and chronicles his role in the development of molecular biology. The bulk of the materials date from the time of his immigration to the U.S. in 1946. They include personal and professional correspondence, lectures, manuscripts, and biographical material. These materials relate to topics such as his immigration as a German scientist during the early years of World War II; biophysics; his work with the Phage Information Service; his...

Abstract These papers document the career of William A. Fowler, who served on the physics faculty at California Institute of Technology from 1939 until 1982. Focusing heavily on nuclear physics and astrophysics, the Fowler papers form a rich and important collection for the history of physics, and illustrate the politics and sociology of science in the twentieth century. They also contain substantial material on Caltech's World War II rocket developments, plus documents on Project Vista, a Cold-War...

Scope and Contents

The scientific and personal correspondence, organizational and government files, technical and teaching notes, writings and talks, civic and social action files, biographical and family papers, and a small collection of audiovisual material of Murray Gell-Mann form the Murray Gell-Mann Papers.

Abstract Donald Arthur Glaser (1926–2013) earned his PhD in Physics and Mathematics from the California Institute of Technology in 1950 and won the 1960 Nobel Prize in Physics for his invention of the bubble chamber. He then changed his research focus to molecular biology and went on to co-found Cetus Corporation, the first biotechnology company. In the 1980s he again switched his focus to neurobiology and the visual system. The Donald A. Glaser papers consist of research notes and notebooks,...

Scope and Contents From the Collection:

This collection provides a thorough record of George Ellery Hale’s activities. A prolific correspondent, Hale kept copies of most of his letters. The collections contains significant material relating to the theoretical and instrumental development of astrophysics, the history of the Mount Wilson and Palomar Observatories, and the early history of the California Institute of Technology. It also documents Hale’s work with the National Academy of Sciences and National Research Council.

Scope and Contents The Edward B. Lewis papers collection document his professional work as a geneticist. Some materials of interest include Lewis’s lab notebooks regarding his work in Drosophila research, genetics, and radiation studies. The collection also has correspondence with professional colleagues and many archival boxes of material related to his winning of the Nobel Prize, including congratulatory notes and ceremony festivities documents. There are also many photographic prints of scanning electron...

Abstract

The Rudolph A Marcus papers consist of working papers, correspondence, publications, and biographical material. Marcus is best known for his contributions to the theory of electron transfer reactions in chemical systems, for which he won the 1992 Nobel Prize in chemistry.