History of Science & Technology, Including the World of Richard Feynman, and Natural History
History of Science & Technology, Including the World of Richard Feynman, and Natural History
Atomics International
Archive of Letters From Prominent Postwar Scientists, Including 11 Nobel Prize Winners and 7 Manhattan Project Participants
Lot Closed
December 13, 07:26 PM GMT
Estimate
12,000 - 18,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
ATOMICS INTERNATIONAL
An archive of 17 typed letters signed by prominent postwar scientists (including 11 Nobel Prize Laureates, as well as 7 known participants in the Manhattan Project), written in response to invitations to speak at the colloquium of Atomics International, a leader in the development of nuclear technology for government and commercial applications. The list of respondents is as follows:
- Harold Urey: 1934 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Manhattan Project Participant
- William Giauque: 1949 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
- Glenn Seaborg: 1951 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Manhattan Project Participant
- Linus Pauling: 1954 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1962 Nobel Prize for Peace
- William Shockley: 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics
- Emilio Segre: 1959 Nobel Prize in Physics, Manhattan Project Participant
- Melvin Calvin: 1961 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
- Rudolf Mössbauer: 1961 Nobel Prize in Physics (2 letters)
- Richard Feynman: 1965 Nobel Prize in Physics, Manhattan Project Participant
- Murray Gell-Mann: 1969 Nobel Prize in Physics
- William Fowler: 1983 Nobel Prize in Physics
- Edward Teller: Manhattan Project Participant
- James Bryant Conant: Manhattan Project Participant
- George Kistiakowsky: Manhattan Project Participant
- Felix Boehm
- Charles Kittel
A complete inventory of letters in this archive will be provided upon request.
AN ARCHIVE OF TYPED LETTERS SIGNED BY SOME OF THE MOST IMPORTANT SCIENTISTS OF THE POSTWAR ERA — RICHARD FEYNMAN, EDWARD TELLER, LINUS PAULING, MURRAY GELL-MANN, AND MORE
The 17 letters in this archive were all written by prominent postwar scientists in response to invitations to speak at the colloquium of Atomics International. A division of North American Aviation — known prior to 1955 as the Atomic Energy Research Department — Atomics International was integral to the growth of the postwar nuclear energy industry, and was responsible for the design, construction, and operation of the first nuclear reactor in California (1952), the first nuclear reactor to produce power for the US commercial grid (1957), and the first and only nuclear reactor launched into outer space by the US (1965).
As the successor to the Manhattan Project, the Atomic Energy Commission contracted with Atomics International to develop SNAP (Systems for Nuclear Auxiliary Power) nuclear reactors. SNAP reactors were designed to be lightweight, compact, and reliable nuclear reactors for use on land, at sea, or in outer space. The final SNAP reactor developed by Atomics International, SNAP-10A, was launched on April 3, 1965, from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. It was the first nuclear reactor in space, and the only nuclear reactor launched into outer space by the United States.
In the period from 1959 to 1961, which is when all but one of these letters were written, Atomics International was at the forefront of development of nuclear technology for government and commercial applications. As such, it would have been considered quite a prestigious invitation to speak at its colloquium. Although there are a number of polite rejections in this archive (including such notables as Richard Feynman, Edward Teller, Murray Gell-Mann, and Linus Pauling, the last of which was "suffering from a bad case of poison oak"), among those who did accept invitations were Harold Urey (who discussed "...ideas on the origin of the solar system"), Emilio Segre ("Antinucleons"), Rudolf Mössbauer ("Nuclear Resonant Absorption of Recoil-Free Gamma Rays"), Felix Boehm ("Parity Conservation in Strong Interactions"), and William Fowler.
The invitees and the topics they proposed to discuss show the topography of science in the postwar United States, the ways in which science was impacted by the war, and the immense importance of the Manhattan Project to the trajectory of postwar physics and chemistry.