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Interview with Findlay E. Russell
Get PDFAn interview in one session in 1994 with Findlay E. Russell, MD, toxicologist, and former Caltech research fellow (1951-1953). He recalls applying for a research fellowship at Caltech under Professor Anthonie Van Harreveld in the biology division during his time as an intern at Los Angeles County General Hospital (now Los Angeles County and USC Medical Center). Comments on decision to undertake research in neurophysiology during clinical training; his early and continuing interest in venomous and poisonous animals and the effect of toxins on the nervous system. Recollects the Caltech Biology Division in the early 1950s; his colleagues Howard Teas and Richard Schweets; Max Delbrück's influence on the students. Efforts by Russell to improve student social life include teaching students ballroom dancing and holding dances with Pasadena City College. His own research on stingray venom eventually supported by Office of Naval Research. In 1953 he moves to the Huntington Institute of Medical Research at the Henry Huntington Hospital in Pasadena. Other reminiscences of life at Caltech and in Pasadena include: R. Feynman's defense of the local burlesque theater, the Burbank (1969); organizing a faculty volleyball team, which includes Nobelist William Shockley; memories of G. Beadle, A. Haagen-Smit, L. Pauling; treating Pauling's dog with vitamin C injections; various pranks. His participation in and enthusiasm for Kent Clark's musical shows on Caltech life. He leaves Huntington for professorship at USC in 1955. Consulting work for United Nations and other governmental agencies takes him all over the world
Interview with William Frazer
Get PDFAn interview in March 1992 with Dr. William Frazer, professor of physics at UC Berkeley (emeritus since 1996).
As UC’s senior vice president for academic affairs (1983-1991), he oversaw the planning for Keck I, the first of the W. M. Keck 10-meter telescopes on Mauna Kea. He discusses the offer of funding from the Hoffman Foundation and its eventual withdrawal and replacement with Keck Foundation money. He recalls his interactions with UC president David Gardner, Caltech president Marvin L. (Murph) Goldberger, and Caltech provost Rochus E. (Robbie) Vogt, as the UC/Caltech partnership was put together; plans to have a Keck telescope and a Hoffman telescope; the uneasiness of the UC astronomers at the prospect of an equal partnership with Caltech; and the disagreement over the siting of the telescope’s headquarters in Hawaii
Interview with Wallace L. W. Sargent
Get PDFAn interview in two sessions in July 1991 with Dr. Wallace L. W. Sargent, Ira S. Bowen Professor of Astronomy in the Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy (PMA). Dr. Sargent received his BS (1956), MS (1957) and PhD in physics (1959) from the University of Manchester, U.K. He became a research fellow at Caltech, working on quasar absorption lines, from 1959 to 1962. In 1966, he joined the Caltech faculty as an assistant professor of astronomy, becoming associate professor two years later, full professor in 1971, and Bowen Professor in 1981. He served as executive officer for astronomy 1975-1981 and 1996-1997 and director of Palomar 1997-2000. In this interview, he discusses his involvement with the origins, in the early 1980s, of the first of the Keck Foundation telescopes on Mauna Kea, known as Keck I.
He recalls the initial plans for a big telescope in partnership either with the Carnegie Institution, the University of Arizona, or the University of California, and the circumstances leading to eventually joining with UC on Keck I; the problematic relationship with Carnegie; and his involvement, along with Rochus Vogt, Gerry Neugebauer, and Edward Stone, in raising money from the Keck Foundation.
He discusses the design competition for the proposed 10-meter telescope; the contributions of Jerry Nelson, then at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory; and the difficulties encountered in designing and building the telescope. He concludes with an account of the decision to build Keck II
Interview with Maarten Schmidt on the Keck Observatory
Get PDFAn interview in two sessions, January and February 1992, with Maarten Schmidt, Francis L. Moseley Professor of Astronomy in the Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy (PMA).
He recalls being brought into plans for a 10-meter telescope in 1978-1979 as director of the Hale Observatories, by Robert Sinsheimer, chancellor of UC Santa Cruz. Appoints Allan Sandage and Keith Matthews to UC committees on the project. His membership on UC Graybeards Committee that chose Jerry Nelson’s segmented-mirror design.
He discusses alternative designs, and Caltech’s consideration of other big-telescope projects, eventual choice of partnership with the University of California. UC’s difficulties with Hoffman Foundation funding; eventual funding for Caltech from Keck Foundation. Howard Keck’s early interest in having two telescopes on Mauna Kea. Caltech’s efforts to assure UC that they would remain equal partners on Keck project.
Comments on disagreement over siting of telescope headquarters. UCLA’s disaffection; contribution of Harland Epps. Discussion of figuring the mirror segments; troubles with Itek. Jerry Nelson’s tests at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory; disadvantages of meniscus design. Drive toward larger telescopes after “back-end” improvements, such as CCDs, were made. Advantages of Keck Telescope over Palomar. Expectations and plans for his own viewing of quasars on Keck I, and its importance to gathering information on galaxies further back in time. Origins and plans for Keck II
Interview with Gerald M. Smith
Get PDFAn interview in October 1992 with Gerald M. Smith, project manager for the W. M. Keck Observatory’s two 10-meter telescopes on Mauna Kea until his retirement in 1996.
He recalls his early interest in electrical engineering and his work, after graduating from USC (1963), at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory on vidicon cameras for the Ranger, Mariner, Viking, and Voyager missions. In 1976, he is recruited by Robert Kraemer to help build NASA’s 3.1-meter telescope on Mauna Kea. Later becomes deputy project manager for IRAS (Infrared Astronomical Satellite) back at JPL, working under Kane Casani. After its successful launch (1983), he is recruited by Harold Ticho as project manager for the 10-meter telescope the University of California hoped to build on Mauna Kea. He recalls later involvement of Caltech and the Keck Foundation in funding the project.
Discusses telescope’s design; Caltech/UC partnership; leadership of then Caltech provost Rochus E. Vogt and physics division chair Edward C. Stone; his conflicts with project scientist Jerry Nelson. Difficulties with Itek, the manufacturer of the segmented mirrors. Comments on current delays in instrument building.
He concludes the interview with recollections of his family’s stay in Hawaii in 1941, at the time of Pearl Harbor
Interview with Victor V. Veysey
Get PDFInterview in three sessions in 1993 and 1994 with Victor V. Veysey, director of Caltech's Industrial Relations Center and lecturer in business economics, 1977-1983, and Caltech alumnus (BS, 1936). He discusses his growing up in Los Angeles and Brawley (Imperial Valley), California; education at Caltech in civil engineering, then MBA at Harvard. Joins staff of Caltech's newly established Industrial Relations Center (IRC) in 1939. After outbreak of World War II he is assigned to management duties within Caltech's rocket project under leadership of Earnest Watson; involved in retrorocket, High Velocity Aircraft Rocket (HVAR), and barrage rocket programs for the navy. Concerned in later stages of the war with transfer of Caltech wartime personnel to Aerojet Corporation, the navy, and Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Involvement with Project Camel (atomic bomb housing) as assistant to Trevor Gardner. In postwar period Veysey returns to ranching in Brawley and enters local and state politics; eventually elected to California legislature (1962) and the US Congress (1970). Appointed assistant secretary of the army for civil works by President Ford in 1974. Returns to Caltech as director of the IRC, 1977; recalls IRC colleagues Robert Gray and Arthur Young, their innovative projects. Further comments on living and working in Sacramento and Washington, DC
Interview with Gerry Neugebauer
Get PDFAn interview in two sessions, July 1991, with Gerry Neugebauer, Robert Andrews Millikan Professor of Physics in the Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy (PMA). Received his PhD in physics from Caltech (1960) and joined the faculty in 1962 as assistant professor. Lead scientist on IRAS (Infrared Astronomical Satellite), launched in 1983; director of Palomar Observatory 1980-1984; PMA division chair 1988-1993. Discusses his role in construction of Keck I, the first of W. M. Keck Observatory’s two 10-meter telescopes on Mauna Kea.
Recalls his early interest in astronomy; switch to physics at Cornell; Army career working on Mariner program at Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Discusses his stint as Palomar director and its light problems; involvement, beginning in 1983, in planning for a 10-meter telescope with his former student Jerry Nelson and PMA division chair Edward C. Stone. Competing designs. Caltech’s decision to go with University of California, then expecting $36 million from Hoffman Foundation, as “junior partner.” Involvement of Keck Foundation; early notions of building a Keck telescope and a Hoffman telescope. Caltech becomes equal partner. Establishment of CARA (California Association for Research in Astronomy) to run the observatory.
Comments on Mauna Kea site, conflict with UC over siting the headquarters: Waimea or Hilo. Selection of Waimea; Smart Trust. Discusses design and manufacture of the 36 mirror segments. Comments on difficulty working at telescope’s altitude; on partnership between UC, Caltech, and University of Hawaii. Continual drive in astronomy community for larger telescopes; adaptive optics. Itek’s problems with polishing the mirrors. Status of work on Keck II
Interview with Oscar Mandel
Get PDFAn interview in three sessions, in October and November 1994, with Oscar Mandel, professor of literature in the Division of Humanities and Social Sciences. Dr. Mandel received his BA from New York University (1947), his MA from Columbia (1948), and his PhD from Ohio State University (1951). He came to Caltech as a visiting associate professor from the University of Nebraska in 1961, joined the faculty the following year, and became a full professor in 1980 (emeritus, 2003).
He recalls his childhood in Antwerp, where his father was a diamond dealer; family’s escape to New York after Germans invaded Begium; his subsequent education at Forest Hills High School, New York University, and Columbia. Recalls his army service 1953-55; five years at University of Nebraska; Fulbright to Netherlands, 1960. Marriage; recruitment to Caltech. Joins faculty after a year as a visitor, 1962. Recollections of Humanities Division in 1960s, chaired by Hallett Smith, and of his colleagues. Interest in foreign-language programs. Changes in the division wrought by Robert Huttenback; Huttenback’s attempts to deny tenure to Jenijoy La Belle.
Recalls his establishment of Spectrum Productions and enlistment of Shirley Marneus as director of plays in Ramo Auditorium with professional casts, 1971-1978. Comments on current inadequacy of literature department; his establishment of programs in art history, music, and creative writing, taught by lecturers; his sense that Caltech undergraduates are shortchanged by high degree of specialization in the humanities. He concludes the interview by describing his recent research on Italian painter Alessandro Magnasco and Dutch 17th-century art
Interview with Thomas K. Caughey
Get PDFInterview in two sessions in 1987 by Carol Bugé with Thomas Kirk Caughey, Professor of Applied Mechanics and Caltech alumnus (PhD, 1954). Caughey was born and educated in Scotland (bachelor's degree, University of Glasgow, 1948.) Comes to the U.S. with Fulbright to Cornell, where he completes his master's degree in mechanical engineering in 1952. He then earns his PhD at Caltech in 1954. He recalls Caltech's engineering and physics faculty in the 1950s: H. Frederic Bohnenblust, Arthur Erdelyi, Richard P. Feynman, Tsien Hsue-shen. Begins teaching at Caltech in 1955; recalls Caltech's Engineering Division under Frederick Lindvall; other engineers and physicists; compares engineering to other disciplines.
Return to Cornell and earlier period: outstanding Cornell professors Feynman, Hans Bethe, Barney Rosser, Ed Gunder, Harry Conway; recalls grad student Ross Evan Iwanowski. Problems of physics degree program at Cornell. Professors Gray and Bernard Hague at Glasgow University. Comparison between American and European educational systems.
His research in dynamics. Earthquake research at Caltech: George Housner and Donald Hudson. Discusses physics and engineering entering a decade of decline; coming fields of genetic engineering, cognitive science and computing, neural networks, and artificial intelligence. Anecdotes about Fritz Zwicky and Charles Richter. Comments on coeducation at Caltech. Caltech personalities: Robert Millikan in his late years; Paul Epstein; Edward Simmons, Richard Gerke; William A. Fowler; further on Zwicky, Hudson; engineers Donald Clark, Alfred Ingersoll; early memories of Earnest Watson. Views on Caltech's future
Interview with Rolf H. Sabersky
Get PDFAn interview in two sessions, in April 1990, with Rolf Heinrich Sabersky, professor of mechanical engineering, emeritus, in the Division of Engineering and Applied Science. Dr. Sabersky received his undergraduate and graduate education at Caltech (BS, 1942; MS, 1943; PhD, 1949). He joined the Caltech faculty in 1949 and became a full professor in 1961 and emeritus professor in 1988.
In this interview, he discusses his early education in Berlin and his family's flight from Germany in 1938 to Switzerland and thence to Los Angeles. He entered Caltech in 1939 as a sophomore; recalls his professors there: Donald S. Clark, Frederic W. Hinrichs, Robert L. Daugherty, Robert T. Knapp, Franklin Thomas, William H. Pickering, Romeo R. Martel, William B. Munro, and James W. Daily. Recollections of Thomas Mann. Pearl Harbor and Caltech campus in wartime; restrictions applying to him as an "enemy alien."
He discusses his work on the Southern California Cooperative Wind Tunnel under Mark Serrurier; recalls visits to that project by Arthur (Maj.) Klein. Becomes a graduate student; lives in the Old Dorm and joins the campus fire brigade. Courses from Donald E. Hudson, Robert C. Bromfield, Peter Kyropoulos. After the MS degree, he goes to work at Aerojet Engineering Corp. at invitation of A.M.O. Smith; works with Martin Summerfield on sustained-duration liquid rocket engines.
Recollections of Theodore von Kármán, Clark B. Millikan. Guggenheim Jet Propulsion Center and H. S. Tsien. Recollections of Fritz Zwicky in his Aerojet days. The influence of Aerojet's William E. Zisch. Becomes acquainted with James Van Allen in early 1946, at Applied Physics Lab, Johns Hopkins; their work together on the Aerobee rocket.
Back to Caltech for the PhD; comments on advent of Frederick C. Lindvall and changes in the engineering division. Recalls his work with Duncan Rannie on axial flow compressors. Courses with Carl Anderson, H. Victor Neher, Charles Lauritsen. Receives his PhD, joins the faculty; consults for Aerojet. Comments on changes in engineering curriculum, drop in engineering enrollment in the late 1950s, the rise of environmental engineering. He discusses division problems with accreditation; assesses student quality and effect of the admission of women. Comments on increasingly cumbersome process of faculty recruitment.
He discusses his work on boiling heat transfer, on fluids near the critical point, on fluid flow in rough tubes, on polymer solutions and non-Newtonian fluids, on flowing granular material. Talks about his "extracurricular" research on indoor pollution with Frederic Shair. He concludes with an assessment of current prospects facing graduating engineers