STHS 345

Science, Technology, Health and Society
Physics in the Modern World: Copenhagen to Manhattan

Course Syllabus

STHS 345 Syllabus for Spring 2022

Documents Available On-Line

• Henry Adams, "The Dynamo and the Virgin"

• Access to the Full Text: The Education of Henry Adams

• Einstein’s visit to New York in April 1921:

  • New York Times April 3

  • New York Times April 4

  • New York Times April 9

• Ida Noddack’s paper “On Element 93”

• Bohr's paper on the liquid-drop model

• Bohr’s paper from the 1938 anthropological conference as cited in Rhodes p. 243

• Einstein Letter to President Roosevelt

• FDR reply to Einstein

• Historian Jeremy Bernstein’s analysis of the Frisch-Peierls memorandum

• Article on US Treasury silver used at Oak Ridge

• Documents on the Atomic Bomb Decision, including copies of statements from groups of scientists questioning or opposing use of the bomb, a review by the scientific panel concluding that no other options were viable, and materials on the decision itself and the explanations of it.

• Oppenheimer at Los Alamos This link contains memos to and from Oppenheimer during his years at Los Alamos and includes the text of his speech in November, 1945 upon receiving the Army-Navy Excellence Award on behalf of the laboratory.

• Analysis of Compton’s 1941 NAS Report

• Tide Predictions for D-Day This article illustrates another way that physics was used in World War Two.

Links to Other Resources

• Churchill essay on extraterrestrial life.

• WW2 maps a great collection of interactive maps from World War 2

• Possible Consequences of Nuclear War (Scientific American January 2010)

• Einstein Revealed, a lively site to accompany the Nova series of the same name. Includes an Alan Lightman piece on Relativity.

• The Leo Szilard Home Page including a biographical chronology, interviews, photos, documents, and links.

• Nobel Laureates in Physics, 1901-Present list with brief grounds for the award of the prize and, in some cases, links to related information.

• The fate of Nobel medals in World War 2

• Trenches On the Web, an extensive World War I site.

• A Bomb WWW Museum. Be aware that most projects on the atomic bomb have a distinctive slant. A variety of documents are connected to this page.

• Remembering Nagasaki, an interesting project from a creative museum.

• Swords to Plowshares, a short history of Oak Ridge National Laboratories. Check out the section on the forties in particular.

• Elementary Particles. A directory of articles from the Fermilab. Some interesting articles dealing with elementary particles.

• AIP Photo Images - Emilio Segre Visual Archives

• Pictures of Famous Physicists. Yes, it's amazing what can be found on the web.

• Werner Heisenberg. With the recent play, Copenhagen, there is a renewed interest in Werner Heisenberg. Check out the online exhibit about this man.

• Washington Naval Treaty of 1922.

• Here's the story of an exceptional B-17 flight crew.

• Pablo Picasso. A link to Picasso's Proto-Cubist Images on the Web.

• George Braque. A link to biographical information about George Braque (Text and Images).

• Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon. 1907..

• George Braque, Violin and Palette, autumn 1909.

• Rene Magritte, Time Transfixed.

• Doctor Atomic, a modern opera by John Adams

• The Treaty of Portsmouth, 1905, The conclusion of the Russo-Japanese War.

• Science the Endless Frontier, a report to the President by Vannevar Bush, Director of the Office of Scientific Research and Development, July 19.

• Niels Bohr Archive

• Atomicarchive.com This site explore the history surrounding the invention of the atomic bomb.

• Brotherhood of the Bomb This site is associated with the book by the same name written by Gregg Herken. It contains a lot of useful documents and other information about Oppenheimer and Lawrence in particular.

• Leona Woods Marshall

• Manhattan Resource Letter

• Manhattan Resource Letter (2)

• Why did they call it the Manhattan Project?

• Haile Selassie 1936 speech to the League of Nations

• Accelerators: past and present This video shows some of the history of particle acceleration and how they are being used today.

• Photos from University of Chicago site of first nuclear reactor

  • Landmark photo

  • University of Chicago Sculpture

  • Sculpture plaque

  • Sculpture plaque 1

  • Sculpture plaque 2

  • Traveler's Guide to Nuclear Weapons

• Cartoons that use relativity or quantum mechanics

  • Cartoon 1

  • Cartoon 2

  • Cartoon 3