Panofsky on Physics, Politics, and Peace (eBook)

Pief Remembers

Wolfgang K.H. Panofsky (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

2007 | 2007
VII, 191 Seiten
Springer New York (Verlag)
978-0-387-69732-1 (ISBN)

Infos

This book is not only an autobiography of the respected physicist and director of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, but a discussion and analysis of issues critical to the relationship between independent academic inquiry and imposed government orthodoxy. The book describes each phase of Dr. Panofsky's career in a way that clarifies the nature of the issues surrounding his work, and explains his chosen course of action.

Wolfgang K.H. 'Pief' Panofsky, a German-American physicist received his bachelor's degree from Princeton University in 1938 and obtained his PhD from Caltech in 1942. In the years 1945-1951, Panofsky held an assistant professorship at Berkeley, before permanently establishing himself as a Professor of Physics at Stanford. Between 1961 and 1984, he was the director of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center.

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This volume contains an "e;unsystematic account"e; of my past work; it is not intended to be an autobiography in the conventional meaning of the term. It is not even remotely a scholarly description of the momentous devel- ments in which I was able to participate; rather it is a recital of "e;memorable"e; episodes, borrowing from the "e;compulsory preface"e; of a facetious British 1 history: "e;History is not what you thought. It is what you can remember. "e; Thus this volume suffers from many "e;sins of omission,"e; including full att- bution of deserved credits, but, it is hoped, only few "e;sins of commission. "e; The author is greatly indebted to his colleagues and his wife, Adele, who kindly reviewed many segments of the manuscript describing shared expe- ences. They are Sidney Drell, Greg Loew, Ed Lofgren, Harvey Lynch, Richard B. Neal, Richard Panofsky, and Burt Richter. But the author, ne- less to say, is responsible for any errors. Because of the multitude of topics into which I was drawn concurrently, a strictly chronological account would prove unreadable. Accordingly the book is divided into chapters, each of which covers a limited period of engagement in a coherent subject matter; an approach clearly again unsystematic but hopefully more conducive to conveying the substance of the work. This account does not include a description of my family life.

Inhalt

Preface 5
Table of Contents 6
School Time in Germany 7
Transition to the United States and Undergraduate Life at Princeton University 11
Graduate Study and War Work at Caltech 16
Work at the University of California Radiation Laboratory 27
Military Work at Berkeley and the Loyalty Oath 45
Beginnings at Stanford 51
Research and Teaching Before SLAC 58
Science Advising and Arms Control: The Beginnings 66
Establishing SLAC 79
Building a Laboratory 90
Physics and the Cold War 106
Student Unrest at Stanford 113
Fixed Target Research at SLAC 116
New FacilitiesÛColliding Beams 125
International High Energy Physics 134
Advances in Accelerator-Based High- Energy Physics 143
Science and Politics After Retirement 158
Endnotes 171
Subject Index 180

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 6.8.2007
• Mitarbeit: Anpassung von: Jean Deken
• Zusatzinfo: VII, 191 p.
• Verlagsort: New York
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Physik / Astronomie ► Allgemeines / Lexika
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Physik / Astronomie ► Astronomie / Astrophysik
• Themenwelt: Technik
• Schlagworte: arms control • career in physics • Hansen Laboratories • high-energy physics • History of physics • physics and politics • physics autobiography • SLAC
• ISBN-10: 0-387-69732-2 / 0387697322
• ISBN-13: 978-0-387-69732-1 / 9780387697321