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Interview with Stanley E. Whitcomb
Full text linkInterview in five sessions, April–June 2017, with Stanley Whitcomb, chief scientist with LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) and one of the longest-serving principals on the project, having been at various times deputy director, R&D director, detector group leader, and acting director. These interviews, a follow-up to a 1997 interview [http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechOH:OH_Whitcomb_S], were conducted about 18 months after LIGO made its landmark detection in September 2015 of gravitational waves from colliding black holes, confirming a key prediction of Einstein’s general theory of relativity. The first session deals with Whitcomb’s account of the discovery and its aftermath, with sessions 2 through 5 focusing on his involvement with LIGO from the 1990s to the present day. He describes LIGO’s evolution from a modest scientific undertaking to a Caltech-MIT-NSF mega-collaboration with hundreds of personnel at multiple institutions, and recalls the organizational, administrative, and technical changes that accompanied this transition. There is extensive discussion of the roles played by B. Barish, R. Drever, J. Marx, D. Reitze, K. Thorne, R. Vogt, and R. Weiss, and numerous others who made essential contributions to LIGO’s success. He recalls the doubts and controversies that swirled around the project, especially in its earlier phases, and offers his thoughts on the factors that kept it viable and moving forward despite these challenges. He talks about his multifaceted administrative responsibilities, including his work with LIGO’s Livingston and Hanford observatories, particularly the latter, and his tenure as head of the detector group charged with developing and installing LIGO’s unprecedented optics and other innovative technologies. He charts LIGO’s progress from Initial to Advanced LIGO, the establishment of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration, and international outreach efforts, including overtures to Australia and the creation of LIGO–India. His personal reflections on LIGO’s scientific and historic significance also form part of this oral history
Interview with Ronald W. P. Drever
Full text linkAn interview in five sessions, January through June, 1997, with Ronald W. P. Drever, professor of physics (now emeritus) in the Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy. Dr. Drever graduated with first honors from the University of Glasgow in 1953 and received his PhD there in 1958. He moved from Glasgow to Caltech in 1977 to help establish the gravitational-wave project later known as LIGO (Laser Interferometry Gravitational-Wave Observatory)—first as a visiting associate, then a half-time professor (1979-1984), becoming full-time in 1984.
He discusses his postdoctoral work at Glasgow on the anisotropy of inertia; a fellowship at Harvard with R. V. Pound measuring gravitational redshift; and collaboration with John Jelley of Harwell looking for radio and light pulses from supernovae and the Crab pulsar.
Recalls his interest in Joseph Weber’s experiments to detect gravitational waves and his own bar-detector work at Glasgow; his switch to interferometers; his “friendly rivalry” with the gravitational-wave group at the Max Planck Institute in Munich; his adaptation of Fabry-Perot cavities vs. the delay-line technique of MIT’s Rainer Weiss. Recalls his collaboration with John Hall, of JILA, in Boulder, CO. Discusses his recruitment to Caltech by Kip S. Thorne; designing Caltech’s 40-meter prototype interferometer; his various innovations; his disagreements with Weiss, Thorne, and particularly Robbie [Rochus E.] Vogt, LIGO director 1987-1994; his July 1992 dismissal from LIGO; his grievance hearing before Caltech’s Academic Freedom & Tenure Committee, and its eventual outcome.
The interview concludes with comments on his current research and on the prospects for LIGO and allied gravity-wave projects
Interview with Marshall H. Cohen
Full text linkInterview with Marshall H. Cohen, Caltech Professor of Astronomy, emeritus, by Shelley Erwin in six sessions and a supplement, 1996-1997, and 1999. He talks about his youth, family background, and education, and his early interest in electrical gadgets; wartime work for Westinghouse; higher education at Ohio State University: bachelor’s degree, electrical engineering, 1948; PhD in physics, 1952. Reminiscences of the Ohio State Antenna Lab and Vic Rumsey, 1952-1954. Following appointment at Cornell in electrical engineering, Cohen describes his transition to the new field of radio astronomy. Recalls early participants in the field: J. Greenstein, F. Whipple, M. Ryle, B. Lovell, R. Hanbury Brown, E. G. Bowen, J. Bolton, P. Wild, W. Christiansen; British and Australian competition in interferometry; Caltech’s early entry in the field.
Brief interlude recalls Richard Feynman both at Cornell and later at Caltech.
Recalls establishment of National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), Green Bank, West Virginia; later sites in New Mexico. Cohen’s involvement with ionospheric physics and building of Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico. Recalls scientific work and political battles over Arecibo; colleagues E. Salpeter, T. Gold, B. Gordon. Cohen’s move to UC San Diego, 1966, and soon after, recruitment to Caltech, 1968. He recalls the developments of the 1960s: first US interferometer in Owens Valley; competition for buildings very large arrays; the Greenstein decadal committee (1970)
Interview with Frank E. and Ora Lee Marble
Full text linkAn interview in one session, October 22, 1997, with Frank E. Marble, Richard L. and Dorothy M. Hayman Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Professor of Jet Propulsion, Emeritus, and his wife, Ora Lee Marble, concerning Tsien Hsue-shen [Qian Xuesen]. Tsien earned his PhD in aeronautics at Caltech in 1939 and in 1950 was the Robert H. Goddard Professor of Jet Propulsion. The interview begins with the cancellation of Tsien’s security clearance in 1950 for involvement with the Communist Party and chronicles events leading to his deportation order and eventual departure for China in 1955 with his family. The Marbles’ relationship with the Tsiens lapses but contact is reestablished in 1982, as Frank and Ora Lee Marble spend several months in China in 1982; details of that trip. Subsequent trip back to China by the Marbles in 1991-1992 finds Tsien’s health failing. Founding of library in Tsien’s honor; Marble succeeds in returning Tsien’s papers—which he has kept personally—to China. The interview includes personal reminiscences on the Tsien family, including Jiang Ying, Tsien’s wife, a musician and opera singer, and Tsien Yucon, his son, who earned a master’s degree at Caltech
Interview with Gerald J. Wasserburg
Full text linkAn interview in four sessions, in April and May 1995, with Gerald J. Wasserburg, John D. MacArthur Professor of Geology and Geophysics, emeritus, in the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences. After a stint in the U. S. Army, Dr. Wasserburg matriculated at Rutgers University, then the University of Chicago (BS 1951); graduate school at Chicago (MS 1952; PhD 1954). He joined the Caltech faculty as assistant professor of geology in 1955, becoming full professor in 1963 and MacArthur Professor in 1982.
In this wide-ranging interview, he discusses growing up in New Jersey during the Depression, his early interest in crystals, his army service in WW II. At war’s end, he studied geology at Rutgers under the GI Bill. Prompted by Henri Bader, he transferred to the University of Chicago in 1948, where he also took courses in physics. He recalls the intellectual excitement there; comments on geochemistry and geophysics at Chicago and Caltech in early 1950s; work of Harold Urey, Harrison Brown, Clair Patterson, Samuel Epstein; his own work on natural gases and dating meteorites. Recalls blowing up his laboratory at Institute for Nuclear Studies. PhD work with Urey and Mark Inghram.
Settling in as assistant professor at Caltech; difficulties building equipment. Conflicts with Patterson, Leon Silver, Charles McKinney. Continuing work on decay constants of natural gases and dating of meteorites; building of mass spectrometer Lunatic I. Recalls courses he taught; comments on geosciences curriculum at Caltech. Comments on Caltech colleagues Barclay Camb and Robert Sharp and difficulties with Silver over areas of study. Recollection of film project with Richard Feynman titled About Time. Concluding remarks on lack of “intellectual saints” in geology as opposed to other physical sciences
Interview with Ahmed Zewail
Full text linkInterview in seven sessions (June-November 2015) with Ahmed Zewail, Linus Pauling Professor of Chemistry and professor of physics, and 1999 Nobel laureate in chemistry. Zewail talks at length about growing up on the banks of the Nile in Desouk, Egypt, describing family and cultural influences, and the interplay of education, politics, and faith during his youth and adolescence. He recalls his early “passion” for knowledge and fascination with science, and the moderate, “intellectually rich” Islam of his day. He talks about his studies at the University of Alexandria (BSc ’67, MSc ’69), the stimulating intellectual and socially tolerant environment there, his designation as a “special” (outstanding) student majoring in chemistry, and his determination to pursue a doctorate in the United States. He recalls his adjustment to life in America, both at the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned his PhD in 1974 with R. Hochstrasser, and as a postdoc at UC Berkeley, where molecular dynamics research with C. Harris set the stage for his future forays into laser-based femtoscience. He recalls turning down numerous academic jobs, including one proffered by S. Hussein in Iraq, to accept a faculty position at Caltech in 1976. He traces the decade of work that led in 1987 to the first direct observations of the making and breaking of chemical bonds, including collaborative work with R. Bernstein and the crucial role of Caltech institutional support. He recalls traveling to Saudi Arabia and Israel to receive the King Faisal and Wolf Prizes respectively and the circumstances surrounding the announcement of the Nobel Prize in 1999 and its aftermath. Zewail talks about the Nobel’s impact on his personal and professional life, including his involvement in public policy, global educational initiatives, and commitment to advancing science education in Egypt, and discusses his post-Nobel 4D electron microscopy research and the establishment of Caltech’s Physical Biology Center for Ultrafast Science and Technology. He recalls discussions with then-Egyptian president H. Mubarak that ultimately led to the founding of Zewail City and touches briefly on his involvement in the 2011 Egyptian Spring. He offers his thoughts on personalities who influenced his life and career, including the iconic Egyptian singer Umm Kulthum and numerous members of the Caltech community. The oral history concludes with a retrospective on his 40 years at Caltech.
Occasional references in this oral history to a memoir or autobiography refer to Voyage through Time: Walks of Life to the Nobel Prize, by Ahmed Zewail, American University in Cairo Press, 2002
Interviews with Harry Barkus Gray
Full text linkTwo interviews in seven and six sessions respectively, with Harry Gray, the Arnold O. Beckman Professor of Chemistry. The first series of interviews, conducted in 2000-01 with Shirley Cohen, deals with Gray’s life and career up to that time. The second series, conducted in 2016 with Heidi Aspaturian, covers the period 2001–2016, expands on a number of topics discussed in the first interview series, and adds to the account of Gray’s earlier decades. Discussion topics common to the two interviews are cross-referenced in both texts.
2000–01 INTERVIEW
Gray opens this interview series with a description of his family roots and formative years in Kentucky’s tobacco-farming country, including his youthful career with the local newspaper and early interest in chemistry. He then provides an account of his undergraduate studies at Western Kentucky State College (BS 1957), graduate work with F. Basolo and R. Pearson at Northwestern University (PhD 1960), and postdoctoral work with C. Ballhausen at the University of Copenhagen, where he pioneered the development of ligand field theory. As a professor at Columbia University, he continued work at the frontiers of inorganic chemistry, published several books and, through an affiliation with Rockefeller University, was drawn to interdisciplinary research, which led him to accept a faculty position at Caltech in 1966. He talks about his approach to teaching and his research in inorganic chemistry and electron transfer at Caltech, his interactions with numerous Caltech personalities, including A. Beckman, G. Hammond, A. Kuppermann, J. Labinger, R. Marcus, L. Pauling, and J. Roberts, his efforts to revamp the undergraduate curriculum, and his tenure as chair of the chemistry and chemical engineering division. He discusses the vision for and construction of the Beckman Institute, its multidisciplinary programs, and his tenure as the facility’s founding director (1986–2001). The interview concludes with Gray’s assessment of chemistry’s key advances over the previous thirty years and predictions for the future.
2016 INTERVIEW
In this follow-up to his 2000–01 interview, Gray elaborates on his family history and youthful interests, including his early fascination with the chemistry of color, his first patent at age eighteen, and his rapid rise through the ranks of his hometown newspaper in Bowling Green, Kentucky, capped by a front-page interview with a very young Elvis Presley. He describes his experiences growing up in the segregated South and his father’s controversial stance in support of school integration in the 1950s. He talks at length about his years as chairman of Caltech’s chemistry and chemical engineering division (CChE), particularly his experiences recruiting future Nobel laureates R. Grubbs, R. Marcus, and A. Zewail onto the faculty and his interactions with Caltech administrators, trustees, and donors. There is extensive discussion of his somewhat unorthodox but highly successful approach to teaching and mentoring undergraduates, as well as recollections of his involvement with the Caltech theater arts program and student pranks. He discusses his solar and alternative energy research and his work over the last decade with “Gray’s Solar Army,” a worldwide network of students engaged in testing potential catalysts for solar cells. He shares his perspectives on chemistry as “the 21st century science,” details his current research into electron transfer and redox reactions, and comments on his relationship with a succession of Caltech administrators. A look back at his professional awards, including a 1986 White House visit to receive the National Medal of Science, and his thoughts on how chemistry and Caltech have evolved in the last fifty years round out this interview. This interview is partially restricted. Per agreement between Professor Gray and the Caltech Archives, dated April 2017, portions of the manuscript are closed for ten years. Closed portions are clearly marked in the transcript
Interview with Melvin Levet
Full text linkInterview with Caltech alumnus Melvin Levet, BS ’39, MS ’40, in two sessions on February 20, 2015. With memories of Caltech that stretch back nearly eight decades, he describes growing up in Monterey Park, California, in the 1920s and 1930s, with “orange groves all over the place.” He talks about his family background and youthful interests, his experiences during the Depression, and his decision to enroll at Caltech. After a rocky start with the core curriculum, he thrived as a geology major, working with professors I. Campbell, H. Fraser, R. Jahns, and W. P. Popenoe. He recalls the rigors of his daily commute between Monterey Park and campus; his enjoyment of his geology coursework and field work in Ensenada, Pala, and the Inyo mountains, as well as the Grand Canyon; and his participation in Caltech baseball, including winning the Institute’s Rawlings Trophy and captaining the varsity team.
After receiving his MS, also in geology, Levet married his high-school sweetheart, Perle Wilkins; and after Pearl Harbor he enlisted in the Army Air Force meteorology program, based first at UCLA and later at the University of Chicago. He served as a weather officer, first stateside and then in the Pacific at every Headquarters 13th Air Force location (except Fiji)—South Pacific, South West Pacific, Asiatic Pacific and the Philippines. He vividly recounts some of his wartime experiences, including island hopping in multiple aircraft, his introduction to “persistence forecasting,” visiting Tokyo following V-J Day, and “taking in stride” the experience of being aboard a B-17 lost in a typhoon over the East China Sea. In the 1980s he and Perle returned twice to Guadalcanal with fellow veterans and their spouses.
After the war, Levet spent 35 years with Standard Oil California (later Chevron) as a research geologist and manager with the company’s computer services department. Beyond his career, he enjoyed hiking, backpacking, and other outdoor activities with his family; and in retirement he and Perle traveled extensively, including trips with the Caltech Alumni Association and Caltech Associates, led by, among others, geologist R. Sharp. This oral history concludes with Levet’s account of his ongoing relationship with Caltech, his observations of how Caltech has changed since his undergraduate days and his reflections on the Institute’s impact on his life and career
Interview with Dana L. Roth
Full text linkAn interview in four sessions, January and February 2014, with longtime Caltech chemistry librarian Dana L. Roth.
Roth received his undergraduate education at Pasadena City College and UCLA (BS in chemistry, 1962). In 1965, he received master’s degrees in chemistry from Caltech and in library science from UCLA; that summer, he became Caltech’s chemistry librarian. After consolidation of Caltech’s division libraries in Millikan Library in 1967, he undertook various administrative responsibilities at Millikan over the years, along with his continuing duties as chemistry librarian. Active in the chemistry division of the Special Libraries Association. In 2008, inducted into the SLA Hall of Fame. That year he also received the Thomas W. Schmitt Staff Prize, presented to a Caltech staff member whose contributions “embody the values and spirit that enable the institute to achieve excellence in research and education.” Retired April 2013.
In this interview he discusses his initial education as a chemist, including his graduate education at Caltech, and his switch to library science. He traces the development of library science in general and at Caltech—from the card-catalog days to the growth of the electronic Caltech Library system and the present state of online access and databases
Interview with Charles W. Peck
Full text linkInterview in five sessions, October-November 2003, with Charles W. Peck, professor of physics (now emeritus) in the Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy.
He recalls his early life in South Texas and his interest in radio; first year of college at Texas Arts & Industries; three more years at New Mexico College of Agriculture & Mechanical Arts. Recalls graduate studies at Caltech with Murray Gell-Mann, H. P. Robertson, Robert Walker, Richard A. Dean, W. R. Smythe. Works on increasing intensity and stability of the Caltech synchrotron, with Walker, Matt Sands, and Alvin Tollestrup; 1964 thesis on K-lambda photoproduction. Joins the faculty as an assistant professor in 1965.
Discusses his various teaching assignments, including an embarrassing moment when Richard Feynman attended one of his freshman physics lectures. Discusses his research at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center and Lawrence Radiation Laboratory’s Bevatron. Collaboration with UC Berkeley and SLAC on “crystal ball” detector for SLAC’s SPEAR storage ring. Taking the crystal ball to DESY, in Hamburg. Works with Barry Barish at Gran Sasso laboratory in Italy, on MACRO; search for magnetic monopoles.
He also discusses his administration work at Caltech, as executive officer for physics (1983-1986) and as PMA division chair from 1993 to 1998, when he immediately had to deal with the troubles plaguing LIGO [Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory]. Detailed discussion of the LIGO contretemps and how it was settled, and of turning Big Bear Solar Observatory over to the New Jersey Institute of Technology. Advent of David Baltimore as Caltech president; attempt to recruit Ed Witten