See the OU Libraries youTube channel for more overview videos.

To celebrate, stop by the History of Science Collections and view an early, low-serial number 1984 Macintosh, donated by Tim Long, on display in the Roller Reading Room. The Collections also holds a late-1984 Macintosh donated by Kennard and Kay Bork; these are part of a computer collection consisting of approximately 40 working computers from the 1970′s through the 1990′s.

One of my favorite portraits of Steve Jobs, taken by Tom Zimberoff, hangs above an easy chair in the Researcher Lounge of the History of Science Collections. Jobs saw that the Mac would do for computers what alphabetic writing did for ancient civilization. The Rosetta Stone displays the same text in three bands of writing, beginning with Egyptian hieroglyphics and the more-easily read demotic script. Both hieroglyphics and demotic, like Mesopotamian cuneiform languages, were written in syllabaries comprised of several hundred characters. Syllabaries were the scripts of highly trained scribes, mastered only through a long period of preparation. As a result, scribes were an elite culture, and their work was subject to the control of large, highly-organized states in Egypt and Mesopotamia. In contrast, the lowest band is Greek, an alphabetic script. With only a couple dozen characters, Greek could be mastered with determination by anyone. The resulting impact of Greek culture upon the world, made possible by literacy, signified to Jobs what the Mac and the 20th-century Information Revolution were all about.

• Apple.com: Explore 30 years of innovation on the Mac (video, 3 mins)
• Listen to the British Museum’s discussion of the Rosetta Stone in their History of the World in 100 Objects series (15 mins).
• 1984
• Steve Jobs unveils the Macintosh (5 mins)
• Tidbits: Celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the Macintosh
• NPR: At 30, The Original Mac Is Still An Archetype Of Innovation

The editor of the History of Science Society’s Isis Current Bibliography, Stephen Weldon, requests participation in a 10-minute online questionnaire on how students and professionals in history of science and related fields use reference tools and social media in their research.

The link to the survey is here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/7H3XD63

The purpose of this questionnaire is to help Weldon’s research team design a new set of discovery and networking tools for research in the history of science. He is working with a group of scholars, librarians, and technical experts on this project, exploring new possibilities for research tools in the current digital environment.

Participation in this survey by anyone whose research may include the history of science, technology, and medicine, whether or not they use the Isis Bibliography, will help provide data on current research practices that will assist in the creation of a new research tool.

The survey will be accessible until Friday, March 15. Your participation is greatly appreciated.

Isis Bibliography – more info

Here’s hoping you’re having a great summer! Meanwhile, here in the Collections, many changes are underway. When you return for the fall semester, you’ll discover some exciting new developments, including fast wi fi available everywhere. Don’t miss the Collections orientation for registered researchers on August 24, at 3:30 in the Harlow Room. Stay tuned to this blog for future announcements!

For quite a while we’ve been posting announcements of an ephemeral nature to Facebook, and now there’s a Twitter feed you can follow to receive the same content. Check out the two icons in the upper right portion of this page for quick links to these pages (located just above the search box).

Follow either of these information sources for news of…

• new posts on our ouhos.org blog,
• colloquia,
• guest speakers,
• special events,
• library and technology tutorials,
• new exhibits,
• special acquisitions, and
• occasional news items from out-of-the-way sources that we think Collections researchers may find useful and interesting.

Longer messages, or information of more lasting value, will still be posted to this blog, but we have decided that there is a place for more compact notices, particularly of imminent opportunities, links and events.

Last week, as we were taking steps to clean up following the much-publicized Oklahoma earthquakes, we felt that we missed the opportunity to use a Twitter account to notify you when the stacks were re-opened. That experience prompted us to finally enter the Twitter universe with the moniker @ouhoscurator.

If you already follow us on Facebook, we expect the content to be identical – all tweets are automatically posted to our Facebook page – so just follow whichever method is most convenient for you.

Also of special interest: Follow @OULibrarian for additional notices regarding the University of Oklahoma Libraries (also: website, Facebook).

(Source)

The Berlin Declaration is a guiding document for the Editions Open Access and the Digital HPS initiatives mentioned on this blog before. The Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, which has played a leading role in crafting and disseminating the open access principles of the Berlin Declaration, is also the sponsor of The Archimedes Project, one of the leading digital libraries for the history of the scientific revolution.

Fludd, a London physician, produced this work with hope that he would thereby be invited to join the Rosicrucians. In the plate above, Integrae Naturae, Fludd represents the alchemist as the ape of nature, simulating the creation of the macrocosm (universe) and the microcosm (the Earth) – click the images on this page to see more detail. The alchemist grasps a great chain reaching from the deity down to him through nature (the female figure).

The title page plate reproduced here indicates that the human body is also a microcosm, proclaiming that alchemy holds the key to medicine as well as creation.

Read the OU Daily article.

Our thanks to Prof. Huskey and his undergraduate students who are working on this project.

Fludd’s book, along with other rare works in chemistry and alchemy, were on display in the Collections’ lobby last spring as part of a tribute to the International Year of Chemistry and the OU programs of chemistry, biochemistry and chemical engineering (see exhibit info and brochure).

See the Collections’ Online Galleries for more images of Fludd here and here.

Undergraduate research in the History of Science Collections from a number of disciplines, spanning the humanities, fine arts and the natural sciences, represents a multitude of interests and perspectives. For more information about pursuing undergraduate research in the Collections, contact us.

• Department of the History of Science
• B.A. History of Science, Technology and Medicine degree checksheet
• history of science undergrads @ ou
• hsci/med/tech undergrads & alumni @ ou (facebook)
• undergrads at the collections

“I could not visualize a treeless university seat. I immediately began to make preparations for making a thousand trees grow where none had grown before.” (David Ross Boyd)

– From Yasu Furukawa:

Dear Steve,

Thank you for your warm note.
We were shocked by the earthquake and tsunami on Friday.
I was then on campus and stayed there all night as no transportation
was available.
Fortunately, I and my family are well.

All the best,

Yasu

– From Jun Fudano:

Many thanks for your kind thoughts and concern.

It happened that I was on the platform of a JR train station in Tokyo when the first earthquake hit Japan. Born and raised in Japan, I am accustomed to the earthquake, but, this one was different and certainly the largest and the worst I’ve ever experienced.

As a meeting had been scheduled, I went to the Tokyo satellite office of our research center, Applied Ethics Center for Engineering and Science, in Harajyuku, Tokyo, by cab because all the trains and subways were not running. We canceled the meeting and I had to spend a night in the office because there was no way to go to a hotel.

I came back to Kanazawa Saturday afternoon through the pacific coast train route via Nagoya and Maibara. As the traffic in the greater Tokyo area was in chaos when I was trying to get to the Haneda Airport and there was no way to reach the airport, I decided to use the train system. Fortunately, the Tokaido bullet train system had been intact and fully operational, I was able to come home safely although it took more than 9 hours from our Tokyo office to my house in Kanazawa. (It takes three to four hours when the traffic system is normal.)

Things in Kanazawa have been normal. KIT even had the entrance examination which was the last one this year on Sunday as scheduled while KIT will have a special treatment for those who had been impacted by the earthquake and the following Tsumami and fire. Ken had soccer practice as usual and Hiroko is doing just fine.

The KIT community in the Kanazawa area and in the Tokyo area are fine also although the Tokyo Toranomon campus which is located on the 11th, 12th, and 13th floors of a high-rise building in the central part of Tokyo was literally shaking, I heard, when the first earthquake hit.

We are now gathering information on the condition of the families, relatives, and friends of the students, faculty, and staff members who came from the areas affected by the earthquake and related incidents.

The biggest concern for me and many others is the situation on the nuclear reactors in the Fukushima area. According to the press release from the government and Tokyo Electric Power company, there was at least small damages to fuel rods because of the problem of the emergency cooling system for the core of the reactor (because it had been damaged by Tsunami and not functional) at the first and third, and then, second reactors of the Fukushima First Nuclear Power Plant. Thanks to the last major step they took, namely filling the reactor cover with seawater, the first and third reactors seem to be under control, but we are not sure about the second. Needless to say, these are the most serious nuclear accidents which Japan has ever experienced and I think it will take a long time for the nuclear power plans in Japan to return to the normal stage meanwhile those who live in the Tokyo, Kantou, and Tohoku areas will suffer from serious shortage of the electric power. Rolling blackouts have started yesterday in the Katou area. (For more details, please see, for example, http://www.japantimes.co.jp/)

Fortunately, considering the nature of the incidents, the amount of radioactive materials released into the environment has been limited, at least as far as I can tell, and I don’t anticipate any serious risk of environmental pollution.

I trust Yasu and his family are not affected by the earthquake.

Again, thank you for your thoughts.

Best regards,

Jun

P.S.: I am attaching a picture of Ken which was taken last summer. Being 173 cm high, he is now taller than me although he will graduate from elementary school, attending the graduation ceremony today.

This is the 7th post in a series celebrating the centennial of the Homer L. Dodge Department of Physics and Astronomy.

Visit the History of Science Collections to explore the events and issues raised by Copenhagen, a play by Michael Frayn and directed by Susan Shaughnessy that will be performed at the University of Oklahoma as part of the Centennial celebration of the Homer L. Dodge Department of Physics and Astronomy. (See announcement here, with dates and times of all performances.)

Frayn’s play is an imaginative reconstruction of the 1941 meeting in Copenhagen between physicists Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg. Bohr’s wife Margrethe is another character in the play. In the play, Frayn explores the reason behind Heisenberg’s trip to occupied Copenhagen while Germany was at war with the Allies and wrestles with the moral role of scientists in the quest to develop an atomic bomb.

The History of Science Collections offers a special opportunity to consult numerous monographs related to the play (BL 521; click Contact Us above for directions). If you have a historical question raised by the play, come to the Roller Reading Room and examine books about Bohr, Heisenberg and their meeting in 1941, including scholarly assessments of Frayn’s interpretation.

In addition, the current exhibit in the lobby of the History of Science displays original publications of Bohr, Heisenberg and Einstein, along with items from the Nielsen archives.

Finally, the Sunday, Sept. 12 Matinee Performance of Copenhagen will be followed by a Symposium featuring Peter Barker (History of Science), Tom Boyd (Religious Studies), Kae Kroger (Drama), Zach Messite (International Programs), Kim Milton (Physics) and Zev Trachtenberg (Philosophy).

More information
Homer L. Dodge Department of Physics and Astronomy centennial events links:

• Centennial home page.
• Performance of the play Copenhagen by Michael Frayn, Weitzenhoffer Theatre, Fine Arts Center, University of Oklahoma, Norman, September 9-12, 2010. (Publicity flyer.)
• Schedule of Events.

This is the 6th post in a series celebrating the centennial of the Homer L. Dodge Department of Physics and Astronomy.

Nielsen writing the Heisenberg Uncertainty equation

Jens Rud Nielsen (1894-1979), Research Professor of Physics at the University of Oklahoma, was a student of Niels Bohr in Denmark. He then completed his doctorate at Cal Tech and arrived in Norman in 1924. What is now Nielsen Hall was built in 1946 and named after Nielsen at his retirement in 1965. As Nielsen’s retirement drew near, Homer L. Dodge wrote:

“I regard one of my greatest contributions to the University of Oklahoma to be bringing him [Dr. Nielsen] there in 1924, if I recall the year correctly. Some persons were amused at the specifications I had for the new man. He was to be a proven research man, a promising director of the research of graduate students, an excellent teacher… Dr. Nielsen lived up to all of these expectations and more, for he was learned in many fields besides physics and had forward-looking ideas concerning education in general. In his quiet, but persistent and effective way he exerted a profound influence on the general development of the University.”

Six years later, Nielsen was one of nine Oklahomans inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame, on November 16, 1971. At the induction ceremony, Richard G. Fowler delivered the citation for Nielsen, commending Nielsen for “the role his teaching and research have played in the University of Oklahoma’s transition from being a University-in-name to being a University-in-fact.” Fowler pointed out that when Nielsen retired, “he had initiated half of our sixty Oklahoma-bred doctorate physicists in the art of doing research.” Fowler explained, “Nielsen’s men and women learned his lessons well. I only wish I had time to recite the distinguished positions they now hold, about one-third each in teaching, industry and government employment.” (Cf. the previously posted list of Nielsen’s students.)

Fowler also paid tribute to Gertrude Nielsen, a physician active in public service, and noted that Jens and Gertrude shouldered the educational expenses of several students during the Great Depression.

Read Fowler’s citation here; 3 pages (as a pdf or in the online galleries):

Nielsen received letters of congratulations from many friends and colleagues, including Paul Sharp, Tom Steed (who was also elected to the Oklahoma Hall of Fame at the same time), University President George Lynn Cross, and then-Senator Henry Bellmon:

In recognition of this honor, the University hosted a tea reception for Nielsen, and sponsored a physics symposium in Nielsen Hall to which all University faculty as of 1965 were invited. The program lists the speakers at the symposium and their topics:

The recognition given Nielsen on this public occasion reflects the esteem in which he was held by his students. For example, H. H. Claassen left the following comment on a hand-written note preserved in the Nielsen archive:

“To study under and to work with Prof. Nielsen offers one the rare opportunity to learn much more than physics. His life and his attitudes toward life serve as an example for all who have known him. Many men lecture, but few men excell as teachers — Dr. Nielsen is one of the few.”

Another student commended Nielsen via a telegram:

Related post: List of Nielsen’s students.

This is the 5th post in a series celebrating the centennial of the Homer L. Dodge Department of Physics and Astronomy.

One unlikely work of Einstein is a Yiddish translation of Einstein’s general theory of relativity, published in 1921. This little book is pertinent to recent discussions by historians of 20th-century physics about the nature of “Jewish physics” in the Third Reich, the relations between proponents of Yiddish and Zionism, and the role of Einstein as a leader of East European Jewry in the years before and after World War II. For example, in a recent article, Roland Gruschka explores the implications of a 1927 Yiddish translation of Einstein (“Tuvia Shalit’s Di spetsyele relativitets-teorye of 1927 and Other Introductions to the Theory of Relativity in Yiddish,” Science in Context, vol. 20, 2007, pp. 317-339).

This earlier, 1921 edition is a translation of Albert Einstein, Uber die spezielle und allgemeine Relativitatstheorie (Gemeinverstandlisch), Braunschweig: Vieweg, 1917. Scholars may view this work in the Collections or in the Online Galleries.

This Yiddish edition of Einstein illustrates why we collect not only first editions, but also subsequent editions and translations that enable scholars to track the changes in scientific texts over time and to explore the translation of ideas into new cultural contexts. For the same reasons, the Collections also hold a Yiddish translation of Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man, published in New York in 1926.

This is the 4th post in a series celebrating the centennial of the Homer L. Dodge Department of Physics and Astronomy.

Jens Rud Nielsen and the 20th-century revolution in physics

A new exhibit will open after Labor Day, September 7, in the lobby of the History of Science Collections, University of Oklahoma Libraries, to celebrate the centennial of the Homer L. Dodge Department of Physics and Astronomy.

The exhibit will include publications of early 20th-century physicists such as Einstein, Bohr and Heisenberg. Photographs and papers from the Nielsen archive will be displayed, including Nielsen’s handwritten manuscript, “Memories of Niels Bohr.”

No appointment is necessary to view the exhibit. The exhibit will be open to the public during the regular hours of the History of Science Collections, which is located on the 5th floor of Bizzell Library. For accommodations on the basis of disability, call 325-2741.

For more information about the Homer L. Dodge Department of Physics and Astronomy centennial events, see the following websites:

• Centennial home page.
• Performance of the play Copenhagen by Michael Frayn, Weitzenhoffer Theatre, Fine Arts Center, University of Oklahoma, Norman, September 9-12, 2010. (Publicity flyer.)
• Schedule of Events.

(Cross-posted on both the Events blog and the History of Science Collections ouhos.org)

This is the 3rd post in a series celebrating the centennial of the Homer L. Dodge Department of Physics and Astronomy.

Jens Rud Nielsen (1894-1979), a student of Niels Bohr, penned this manuscript held by the History of Science Collections entitled Memories of Niels Bohr. The original manuscript is available in its entirety in the History of Science Collections Online Galleries.

Nielsen published an article with the same title in Physics Today, 1963, vol. 16, pp. 22-30. The manuscript and published article are quite different.

This is the 2nd post in a series celebrating the centennial of the Homer L. Dodge Department of Physics and Astronomy.

Jens Rud Nielsen (1894-1979), who joined the OU Physics Department in 1924, was an undergraduate student of Niels Bohr in Denmark. Bohr, one of the founders of quantum mechanics, made two trips to the University of Oklahoma, first in 1937 and again in 1957.

The text of Bohr’s 1957 lecture at the University of OKlahoma was recorded by Physics Professor Chun Lin and then transcribed by Nielsen. Lin’s original reel-to-reel tape is in the OU History of Science Collections.

Robin Noad, Director of the Media Resource Center of the Weitzenhoffer Family College of Fine Arts, recently digitized the original reel-to-reel tape, which enables us to make it available online. Use the following links to download the lecture in the audio format of your choice:

1. mp3 (compressed file, lowest quality, volume not adjusted; 109 MB).
2. m4v (high quality, recommended version, optimized for iTunes, volume adjusted; 116 MB).
3. wav (lossless format, largest file size, volume not adjusted; 238 MB).

In the recording, Bohr begins at 6 min, 45 sec. He is preceded by an introduction delivered by Jens Rud Nielsen.

Note: Bohr’s speaking voice becomes quieter over the course of the lecture. To partially compensate for this, the m4v audio file progressively increases the volume as the talk proceeds, by a difference of up to 5.8 dB toward the end. The other two files convey the talk as recorded, without adjustments.

The Homer L. Dodge Department of Physics and Astronomy has made Nielsen’s transcription available online, prepared by Tom Miller, emeritus professor of Physics at OU.

Bohr’s lecture was published as a booklet (cover shown below) by the Frontiers of Science Foundation of Oklahoma, Inc.. The Foundation has generously granted us permission to distribute a scanned version online (download pdf here, 2.8 MB).

This is the 1st post in a series celebrating the centennial of the Homer L. Dodge Department of Physics and Astronomy.

One measure of the influence of Jens Rud Nielsen (1894-1979) is that Nielsen Hall on the University of Oklahoma campus is where you’ll find the Homer L. Dodge Department of Physics and Astronomy. Another measure is found in the 27 doctoral students who completed their degrees under Nielsen.

The list of Nielsen’s students below is based upon a document in the unprocessed Nielsen archives in the History of Science Collections. For each student we have supplied the dissertation title, linked to its University Libraries catalog record (from the catalog record you may view a pdf of each dissertation). Finally, each student’s place of residence is given, when known, as of the early 1960s.

Please contact us if your name, or the name of a family member, is on this list, or if you spot any errors. We would like to hear if you know of anyone not on this list who studied under Nielsen or if you have information about these physicists that might be of interest for the Nielsen archive.

1934: Dr. F. W. Crawford, Ultra-violet absorption spectrum of carbon disulphide. Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas.

1941: Dr. Newton E. Ward, Raman spectra of compounds in the gaseous and liquid states. China Lake, California.
1941: Dr. Gene Thomas Pelsor, Vibrational analysis of the 3200A band system of carbon disulfide. Sandia Corporation, Sandía Base, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
1944: Dr. Donald K. Coles, Raman spectra of compounds in the gaseous and liquid states II. Fort Wayne, Indiana.
1946: Dr. Edwin Fast, Spectrographic analysis of solutions: with special reference to oil-field waters. Idaho Falls, Idaho.
1947: Dr. Warren J. McGonnagle, Raman spectra of some hydrocarbons. San Antonio, Texas.
1948: Dr. Donald Charles Smith, Analysis of nitroparaffins by infrared spectroscopy. Research and Development Department, Phillips Petroleum Company, Bartlesville, Oklahoma.
1949: Dr. Charles Marvin Richards, Raman spectra of hydrocarbons in the gaseous and liquid states. Woodlawn, Panama City, Florida.
1949: Dr. Russell Lee Hudson, Raman spectra of some fluorinated aromatics. Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
1949: Dr. Howard Huebert Claassen, Raman spectra of some fluorinated hydrocarbons. Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois.

1950: Dr. Langdon Hyman Berryman, Molecular potential functions for three fluorocarbons. Continental Oil Company, Ponca City, Oklahoma.
1950: Dr. Raymond M. Smith, Raman and infrared spectra of 1,1,1-trifluoro-2,2,2-trichloroethane and 1-fluoro-1,1-dichloroethane. Cincinnati, Ohio.
1952: Dr. Ching Yu Liang, Raman spectra of ethane derivatives with a symmetrical end group CXb3s. Palos Verdes Peninsula, California.
1952: Dr. Russell Winston Hall, Jr., Raman spectra of tetramethyl- and tetraethyllead and their intermediates. Houston, Texas.
1953: Dr. Russell Lewis Collins, The vibrational spectra of methyltrifluorosilane. Department of Physics, University of Texas, Austin, Texas.
1953: Dr. Eldon Earl Ferguson, Vibrational spectra of some fluorinated benzenes. National Bureau of Standards, Boulder, Colorado.
1953: Dr. Chi Yuan Pan (Mrs. C. Y. Liang), Normal coordinate analysis of 1 , 1 , 1-trifluoroethane. Palos Verdes Peninsula, California.
1955: Dr. Jasper A. Jackson, Vibrational spectra of lead alkyls. Los Alamos, New Mexico.
1956: Dr. Alva Taylor Stair, Vibrational spectra of compounds in different states of aggregation. Lexington, Massachusetts.
1956: Dr. James Curtice Albright, Vibrational spectra of hexafluorobutadiene-1, 3 and 1-fluoro-1-chloroethylene. Ponca City, Oklahoma.
1956: Dr. Charles William Gullikson, Vibrational spectra of compounds in the gaseous state. Colorado Springs, Colorado.
1956: Dr. Albert Hanes Woollett, Vibration spectra of polyethylenes and long-chain paraffins.
1959: Dr. Kappagantula Laksmi [Sanga], Vibrational spectra of CFC1: CHBr, Cb2sHb2sFBr, CFb2sBr-CHBrb2s. Seattle, Washington.

1960: Dr. Peter Klaboe, Infrared and Raman spectra of some fluorinated ethanes exhibiting rotational isomerism. Oslo, Norway.
1961: Dr. Redus Foy Holland, The infrared spectra of single crystals of compounds with long methylene chains. Los Alamos, New Mexico.
1962: Dr. Homer Park Bucker, Normal coordinate analysis of CF3-CH3, C2F6 and C2H6; Vibrational spectra of CF2Br-CH2Br and CF2Cl-CH2Cl. San Diego, California.
1965: Dr. Charles Edward Hathaway, Vibrational spectra of crystals of compounds with methylene chains.

Most of the books discussed in this podcast episode are also featured in the image galleries, such as Robert Boyle’s New Experiments, Physico-Mechanicall, Touching the Spring of the Air (1660), shown right.

The History of Science Collections hold a copy of the version of Euclid’s Geometry associated with the circle of al-Tusi (right). This is a printed edition, not a manuscript, although through a technological feat it displays ligatures and other features of Arabic writing. However, this edition was not printed in Baghdad or Cairo, but in Rome in 1594. The Medici set up a printing press to make important Arabic works like this one available for European scholars who were willing to learn Arabic in order to make further advances in their fields.

Al-Tusi worked on problems raised by Ptolemy’s Planetary Hypotheses, a work concerned with describing possible physical structures of the universe that would correspond with the geometrical models of the Almagest. Al-Tusi is best known for developing a geometrical device called the “Tusi couple” that acts like a crank mechanism, sliding a planet directly toward or away from the center of the deferent circle. The Tusi couple resolved a problem with Ptolemy’s lunar models, which accurately predicted the position of the Moon but required the Moon to appear with a greatly varying diameter (which is not observed). Therefore the Tusi couple could move the Moon farther out or closer in as needed to maintain a more constant apparent diameter of the Moon. In the 16th century, Copernicus used a Tusi couple in his lunar theory, directly appropriating this technique from Islamic astronomers. [See former OU professor Jamil F. Ragep, "Tusi and Copernicus," Science in Context, 2001, 14:145-163.]