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Historical Materials in the LBNL Library

LBNL Library–History Monographs, Cataloged Reports, and a Serial: An Annotated Bibliography

 

Monographs

 

Summary:  Autobiography of physicist Luis Alvarez recounting his life and work in the field of physics

 

Summary: This comprehensive biography of Ernest Lawrence, an American pioneer of physics, describes the life of the man who built the world’s first cyclotron and won the Nobel Prize in Physics while still in his thirties. This book begins with his boyhood and adolescence in South Dakota, continues with his study at that state’s university, and moves to his appointment to a full professorship at University of California Berkeley. It covers his time at the Radiation Laboratory at Berkeley and his contributions to the Manhattan Project. His relationships and associations with Oppenheimer, Bohr, Fermi, and others are depicted. The book closes with a reflection on Lawrence’s influence on American physics research. The book is meticulously researched and fluidly written.

 

Contents:  A heroic time — South Dakota boy — “I’m going to be famous” — Shims and sealing wax — Oppie — The deuton affair — The cyclotron republic — John Lawrence’s mice — Laureate — Mr. Loomis — “Ernest, are you ready?” — The racetrack — Oak Ridge — The road to Trinity — The postwar bonanza — Oaths and loyalties — The shadow of the Super — Livermore — The Oppenheimer affair — The return of small science — The “clean bomb” — Element 103.

    • Summary: The birth of Big Science can be traced to Berkeley, California, nearly nine decades ago, when a resourceful young scientist with a talent for physics and an even greater talent for promotion pondered his new invention and declared, ‘I’m going to be famous!’ Ernest Orlando Lawrence’s cyclotron would revolutionize nuclear physics, but that was only the beginning of its impact. It would change our understanding of the basic building blocks of nature. It would help win World War II. Its influence would be felt in academia and international politics. It was the beginning of Big Science.”–Publisher description.

 

Summary: Brotherhood of the Bomb is the fascinating story of the men who founded the nuclear age, fully told for the first time. The story of the twentieth century is largely the story of the power of science and technology. Within that story is the incredible tale of the human conflict between Robert Oppenheimer, Ernest Lawrence, and Edward Teller — the scientists most responsible for the advent of weapons of mass

 

  • The Calvin Lab : Oral History Transcript : Bio-organic Chemistry Group at the University of California, Berkeley, 1945-1963 / 2000. (online)
    Author: Moses, Vivian and Sheila Moses
    Publisher: Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, University of California
    Year: 2002

Summary: Graduate students, postdocs, staff and observers of the Melvin Calvin bio-organic chemistry group at UC Berkeley from 1945-1963 are interviewed on the methods, management, community and culture of the Calvin lab; the Donner Laboratory-based group’s work on organic reaction mechanisms and radioactive synthesis; work on photosynthesis in the Old Radiation Laboratory (ORL); years after 1959 in the Life Sciences Building, and the move to the Round House (Melvin Calvin Laboratory; recollections of Sam Ruben, Martin Kamen, UC Radiation Laboratory, E.O. and John Lawrence.

The Calvin Lab, Volume 1

The Calvin Lab, Volume 2

 

Summary: Events at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory at Berkeley to the end of 1940 are recalled. Radiation detection, discovery of new isotopes and elements, and accelerators are among the subjects included. 29 photographs

Electronic resource:  https://www.osti.gov/scitech/servlets/purl/7306138

 

Summary: Known as the father of the American H-Bomb, Teller continued to play a crucial role in U.S. nuclear weapons policy. Born a Hungarian Jew in 1908, the young physicist studied with such greats as Werner Heisenberg and Niels Bohr. Fleeing Nazism, he became a member of the Manhattan Project team which developed the world’s first atomic bomb.

 

Summary: The Radiation Laboratory in Berkeley, California, was the birthplace of particle accelerators, radioisotopes, and modern big science. This title presents the laboratory’s history. It helps you learn how Ernest Lawrence used local and national technological, economic, and manpower resources to build the cyclotron.

Electronic resource:  http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft5s200764&brand=ucpress

 

Summary: The Radiation Laboratory in Berkeley, California, was the birthplace of particle accelerators, radioisotopes, and modern big science. This first volume of its history is a saga of physics and finance in the Great Depression, when a new kind of science was born. Here we learn how Ernest Lawrence used local and national technological, economic, and manpower resources to build the cyclotron, which enabled scientists to produce high-voltage particles without high voltages. The cyclotron brought Lawrence forcibly and permanently to the attention of leaders of international physics in Brussels at the Solvay Congress of 1933. Ever since, the Rad Lab has played a prominent part on the world stage. The book tells of the birth of nuclear chemistry and nuclear medicine in the Laboratory, the discoveries of new isotopes and the transuranic elements, the construction of the ultimate cyclotron, Lawrence’s Nobel Prize, and the energy, enthusiasm, and enterprise of Laboratory staff. Two more volumes are planned to carry the story through the Second World War, the establishment of the system of national laboratories, and the loss of Berkeley’s dominance of high-energy physics.

 

Summary: Contains information on Los Alamos and the development of the Atomic Bomb.

 

Summary: Rabi’s discovery of the magnetic resonance method won him the Nobel Prize in 1944 and stimulated research leading to, among other things, refinements in quantum electrodynamics, refined molecular beam methods, radio astronomy with the hydrogen 21-cm line, atomic clocks, and solid state masers.

 

 

LBNL Reports

 

Summary: Journal of Glenn T. Seaborg based on notes of activities made while serving as Chancellor of the University of California – Berkeley campus.  In three volumes.

Electronic resource:  https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5h31d7b9

 

Summary:  Journal of Glenn T. Seaborg based on notes of activities made while serving as Chancellor of the University of California – Berkeley campus.  In three volumes.

Electronic resource:  https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3rn3s04b

 

Summary:  Journal of Glenn T. Seaborg based on notes of activities made while serving as Chancellor of the University of California – Berkeley campus.  In three volumes.

Electronic resource:  https://escholarship.org/uc/item/97f770mp

 

 

Reports

Summary: Annual summary of scientific advancement through research conducted at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, and in conjunction with the University of California – Berkeley and brief overview of staffing, organization, and funding.

Electronic resource:  https://drive.google.com/open?id=1grYc6YIG_T7KMwBRPUU2woiqPbcqlK9V

 

Summary: Annual summary of scientific advancement through research conducted at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, and in conjunction with the University of California – Berkeley and brief overview of staffing, organization, and funding.

Electronic resource:  https://drive.google.com/open?id=1BJoTHS7EWt8QHY_kNJKwFhBWg4RBeblK

 

Summary: Annual summary of scientific advancement through research conducted at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, and in conjunction with the University of California – Berkeley.

Electronic resource:  https://drive.google.com/open?id=196gu9pLCJRzFiDT1XXvp8kAmzb0As3c8

 

Summary: Annual summary of scientific advancement through research conducted at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, and in conjunction with the University of California – Berkeley.

Electronic resource:  https://drive.google.com/open?id=1kd31hIrGJWiRGDbvbgNNzu_AmxDN5Q88

 

Summary: Annual summary of scientific advancement through research conducted at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, and in conjunction with the University of California – Berkeley.

Electronic resource:  https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Ehq0PDqXdEAZdFUDgg71ORF5uCmcyagn

 

Summary: Annual summary of scientific advancement through research conducted at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, and in conjunction with the University of California – Berkeley.

Electronic resource:  https://drive.google.com/open?id=1KY80cFsPxF6QaoKCk2mtfSGT7kJ-m53J

 

Summary:  Annual report of scientific achievements at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, and information about staffing, administration and services, and financial costs.

Electronic resource:  https://drive.google.com/open?id=1U4GG1nuW5rYCXDbSK50ItoihQLMHJEhA

 

Summary: Annual report about staffing, administration and services, and financial costs at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory..  

Electronic resource:  https://drive.google.com/open?id=10K90VKsZfZadQMDbEh4U3Gbg7fWgG2vg

 

Summary:  Annual report of scientific achievements at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, and information about staffing, administration and services, and financial costs.  

Electronic resource:  https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ixuEG4wBQtRDdFaBAOrNFif_zzu8gNrT

 

  • Status, Fiscal,Year 1962
    QC770.C3 A15 1962
    Author: Lawrence Radiation Laboratory
    Publisher: University of California – Berkeley
    Year: 1962

Summary:  Annual report of scientific achievements at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, and information about staffing, administration and services, and financial costs.  

Electronic resource:  https://drive.google.com/open?id=1duGGZDOXX65KWzrPswRQ0aknp9PyaX6z

 

Summary: Annual report of scientific achievements at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, and information about staffing, administration and services, and financial costs.  

Electronic resource:  https://drive.google.com/open?id=1EadmRPlPmahHMSZW9GoYP12aVctPGFy4

 

Summary: Annual report of scientific achievements at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, and information about staffing, administration and services, and financial costs.  

Electronic resource:  https://drive.google.com/open?id=1bE6Oe9ug7TfKnXEPbhr11K1G0KTCXRvR

 

  • Status Report 1957-1958
    QC770.C3 A15 1957-1958
    Author: Lawrence Radiation Laboratory
    Publisher: University of California – Berkeley
    Year: 1957

Summary: Annual report of scientific achievements at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, and information about staffing, administration and services, and financial costs.  

Electronic resource:  https://drive.google.com/open?id=1LCNThhZyi7MKzxoS9J5qHe5tUtkFTTM8

 

Serial

  • Magnet (1957-1976) complete (print)

A monthly newsletter for Radiation Laboratory employees in Berkeley and Livermore.  Bound issues. Not cataloged at this time.

Electronic resource:  https://drive.google.com/open?id=1SRCywRnW8upxpZ3mCGRA14J_fy4AtULz