Research at the Kellogg Radiation Laboratory, 1920s--1960s: A Small Narrative of Physics in the Twentieth Century (2005)
Walling, Olivia Weaver (Author)
University of Minnesota
Kohlstedt, Sally Gregory
Seidel, Robert W.
Edition Details: Advisors: Kohlstedt, Sally Gregory; Robert W. Seidel
Physical Details: 235 pp.
Language: English
This dissertation consists of a study of nuclear research at the Kellogg Radiation Laboratory of the California Institute of Technology from the 1920s to the early 1960s. In particular, the narrative is concerned with the development of research in nuclear astrophysics in tandem with the study of nuclear energy levels of light nuclei under the leadership of William A. Fowler. The work at this laboratory emphasizes how local subcultures influence the practice of science. The introduction to this study reviews the secondary literature concerned with physics in twentieth century America. In particular, I highlight how that literature has been dominated by science's connection with military priorities and on the organization of big science. I critique this literature by showing how its central concerns produce a historiographical frame that makes only one narrative of postwar events in physics possible. The study of Kellogg Lab here strives to elaborate on this narrative by highlighting how scientists there engaged in pragmatic and short term planning in order to take advantage of changing research foci quickly. The small and elite nature of this laboratory allowed it to plan its investigations opportunistically. This style of research stands in contrast to the organizational structures with which we are familiar from many histories of physics in mid-twentieth century America. Chapter two examines the origins of the laboratory with a particular focus on the establishment of its social geography. Here I look at the start of nuclear physics research in connection with Caltech's distinctive vision of the physicist at work. Chapters three and four address the two major research projects of Kellogg Lab, nuclear astrophysics and the measurement of nuclear energy levels, in detail. The narrative investigates the research of the principal researchers including: William A. Fowler, Charles C. Lauritsen, Thomas Lauritsen, Edwin Salpeter, Fred Hoyle, Margaret and Geoffrey Burbidge, Jesse Greenstein, and Faye Ajzenberg-Selove. Chapter five explores the rivalry in research concerning the origin of the elements (i.e., nucleosynthesis) between Fowler and his collaborators and Alastair G. W. Cameron. This chapter explores how personal relationships influenced the researchers' conception of scientific practice and highlights distinctive features of the Caltech ethos. In conclusion, I explore how this narrative of research at Kellogg Laboratory challenges existing views of the practice of science during this time period. In this regard, I suggest some avenues of research that may lead to new understandings of physics during this period. In particular, I suggest that many physicists practiced science within elite subcultures and that these subcultures influenced their chosen research programs as well as how they viewed collaborators and competitors.
...MoreDescription Cited in Diss. Abstr. Int. A 66/12 (2006): 4509. UMI pub. no. 3198144.
Similar Citations
Article
McCray, W. Patrick;
(2004)
Project Vista, Caltech, and the Dilemmas of Lee DuBridge
(/isis/citation/CBB000700652/)
Article
Reed, B. Cameron;
(2011)
Liquid Thermal Diffusion during the Manhattan Project
(/isis/citation/CBB001036137/)
Article
Greenberg, John;
(2005)
A Conversation with William A. Fowler
(/isis/citation/CBB000641824/)
Article
Sam M. Austin;
(2016)
The Michigan State University Cyclotron Laboratory: Its Early Years
(/isis/citation/CBB939221520/)
Article
Oppenheimer, Frank;
(2013)
A Physicist for All Seasons: Part I
(/isis/citation/CBB001320402/)
Book
Alex Wellerstein;
(2021)
Restricted Data: The History of Nuclear Secrecy in the United States
(/isis/citation/CBB433725241/)
Article
Crane, H. Richard;
(2000)
How We Happened to Measure g-2: A Tale of Serendipity
(/isis/citation/CBB000110684/)
Thesis
Zhu, Yuelin;
(2001)
Chien-Shiung Wu: An intellectual biography
(/isis/citation/CBB001562628/)
Article
Johnston, Sean F.;
(2009)
Implanting a Discipline: The Academic Trajectory of Nuclear Engineering in the USA and UK
(/isis/citation/CBB000932243/)
Article
Bernstein, Jeremy;
(2010)
John von Neumann and Klaus Fuchs: An Unlikely Collaboration
(/isis/citation/CBB000932748/)
Article
Spiering, Christian;
(2012)
Cosmic Rays, Gamma Rays and Neutrinos: A Survey of 100 Years of Research
(/isis/citation/CBB001251954/)
Article
Banco, Lindsey Michael;
(2012)
The Biographies of J. Robert Oppenheimer: Desert Saint or Destroyer of Worlds
(/isis/citation/CBB001320118/)
Article
Joye-Cagnard, Frédéric;
Strasser, Bruno J.;
(2009)
Energie atomique, guerre froide et neutralité: La Suisse et le plan “Atomes pour la Paix”, 1945--1957
(/isis/citation/CBB001022687/)
Book
Bernstein, Jeremy;
(2007)
Plutonium: A History of the World's Most Dangerous Element
(/isis/citation/CBB001230726/)
Article
Sopka, Katherine R.;
Sopka, Elisabeth M.;
(2010)
The Bonebrake Theological Seminary: Top-Secret Manhattan Project Site
(/isis/citation/CBB001036148/)
Article
Paris, Elizabeth;
(2001)
Lords of the ring: The fight to build the first U.S. electron-positron collider
(/isis/citation/CBB000100454/)
Article
Heinze, Thomas;
Hallonsten, Olof;
Heinecke, Steffi;
(2015)
From Periphery to Center: Synchrotron Radiation at DESY, Part I: 1962--1977
(/isis/citation/CBB001552128/)
Article
Neil R. Sheeley;
(2019)
Memorable Events During a Research Career
(/isis/citation/CBB734006677/)
Article
Goodstein, Judith;
(2003)
A Conversation with Lee Alvin DuBridge, Parts I and II
(/isis/citation/CBB000450133/)
Book
Doing, Park;
(2009)
Velvet Revolution at the Synchrotron: Biology, Physics, and Change in Science
(/isis/citation/CBB000952121/)
Be the first to comment!