Nominating Bridgman for the Nobel Prize: The Motives and Strategy of the Harvard Scientists (2020)
Okamoto, Takuji (Author)
Historia Scientiarum: International Journal of the History of Science Society of Japan
Volume: 30
Issue: 1
Pages: 61-90
Percy Williams Bridgman, known for his high pressure experiment and publications in the philosophy of science, received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1946. Although the nominators of his home institution Harvard University recognized his achievementsʼ apparent unfitness for the prize—results of a lifelong incremental pursuit outside quantum physics—, having failed to catch up with the contemporary trend of physical research, they found Bridgman to be almost the only candidate from the university. The nomination letters, especially those by the Harvard and MIT physicists, reveal not only their esteem of their candidateʼs scientific research but also their evaluation of his philosophical work and contribution to solid state physics, thereby disclosing unknown aspects of the interaction between Bridgman and his colleagues.
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