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Interview with Annette J. Smith
Full text linkInterview in seven sessions, December 2010 to January 2011 with Annette J. Smith, visiting professor of French at Caltech from 1970 to 1982, appointed associate professor with tenure in 1982, promoted to professor of French in 1985, and Professor of Literature emeritus since 1993.
Family history, childhood and education in Algiers, Algeria. Family history and background of late husband, Caltech Professor of Literature David R. Smith (1960-1990). Bachelor’s degree in Classics (1948) from Sorbonne in Paris. Attended the School of Professors of French Abroad at the Sorbonne and taught at the University of Wales in Swansea. Master’s degree in English. Marriage to D. Smith and move to the United States.
Teaches at Scripps College and Claremont Men’s College [now Claremont McKenna College], where she had tenure position. Caltech hires D. Smith as professor and A. Smith as lecturer in French language. D. Smith as Joseph Conrad scholar. Doctorate degree (1964) and dissertation on author Nicole Védrès. D. Smith made Master of Student Houses (1969-1975); life in Virginia Steele Scott house. Descriptions of faculty and atmosphere within Division of Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS), beginning when Hallett Smith was chair. Friendship with Max and Manny Delbrück. Cultural life at Caltech; D. Smith brings poets, actors, directors and musicians to campus. Life as professor’s spouse and efforts to improve working conditions and salaries for female staff. Sexual discrimination in HSS and support for Jenijoy La Belle. History and founding of Baxter Art Gallery (1970), significant exhibitions organized by D. Smith, closing of Baxter Art Gallery (1985). Important relationships with Caltech professors, postdocs and staff: R. Sperry, R. Feynman, A. Hibbs, J. and F. Audouze, D. and C. Cesarsky, J.-P. Bibring, and N. and C. Corngold.
Elevated to associate professor (1982). Literature courses she taught and impressions of students. Two books accepted for publication: one on Arthur de Gobineau and translation of poems by Aimé Césaire. Explanation of racial theories of Gobineau and discussion of his fiction; impact of Gobineau’s racist writings and theories, including appropriation by Nazis. Discussion of Darwinism. Comments about translating poetry and working with poet Clayton Eshleman on four books of Césaire’s poetry. Description of Césaire’s life and politics and his importance as a leader and author. Reads her translations of Césaire’s poems.
Impressions of foreign language study at Caltech and further descriptions of HSS, including some unfortunate hires and tension in the division. D. Smith’s illness and death. Teaching in Papeete, Tahiti, 1990-1991. Circular nature of her life and work. Purchase of land and building of second home in Point Dume, Malibu, (1980-1981) and celebratory party there. Expressions of gratitude for Caltech and its brilliant scientists and community
Interview with Stacey Miller on behalf of father Herman Miller
Full text linkOn Seminar Day—Caltech’s annual reunion event—May 19, 2012, for the first time the Caltech Archives and Library offered alumni/ae the opportunity to record mini-interviews with Archives’ staff. Nine people participated, including one alumni spouse and one daughter. These alums held bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees across several divisions, with engineering marginally in the lead. One former student who transferred out of Caltech came back to relate how well his Caltech years had served him in his later studies and career in psychology. Ranging from 10 to 15 minutes in length, the interviews typically relate stories or episodes from student years. Favorite topics include pranks and traditions, some of which have died out. Alumni also reflect on professors and classes which were memorable and on the unique intellectual stimulus that a Caltech education provides. Readers will find that the transcripts of the short interviews reflect the personal and colloquial tone at which the event aimed
Interview with Aron Kuppermann
Full text linkInterview in five sessions (July-November 2001) with Aron Kuppermann, professor of chemistry, Caltech. Kuppermann, born in São Paulo, Brazil, discusses his family, childhood in New York City and São Paulo, and education. Degree in chemical engineering in 1948 and in civil engineering in 1952 from Escola Politecnica at the University of São Paulo. Joins faculty at Instituto Tecnólogico de Aeronáutica in São José dos Campos. Takes physics classes and first course in quantum mechanics with David Bohm. Marries Roza. Fellowship for study in theoretical chemistry and radiochemistry at the University of Edinburgh (1953), followed by graduate work at University of Notre Dame (with Milton Burton); PhD, 1955. Hired as assistant professor of chemistry at University of Illinois, Urbana; research into measuring triplet states of molecules; unimolecular decomposition processes; use of digital computer ILLIAC 1; calculating electronic properties of molecules (with Martin Karplus). Joins Caltech faculty in physical chemistry, 1963.
At Caltech oversees installation of new molecular beam machine brought from Illinois. Discussion of construction of Arthur Amos Noyes Laboratory for Chemical Physics and the chemistry division faculty from his early years: W. Robinson, H. Gray, J. H. Sturdivant, S. Chan, R. Badger, R. Pitzer, W. Goddard and B. V. McKoy. First classes in undergraduate physical chemistry and graduate course in statistical mechanics. First sabbatical (1968) spent at Weizmann Institute in Israel and FOM Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics in Amsterdam. Upon return, research focused on quantum mechanical theory of chemical reactions. Granted use of big computer at Ambassador College with George Schatz. Experiments in electron scattering and mono-energetic reactions photoelectron spectroscopy. Interest develops in a more theoretical approach to problem solving.
Discusses extensive committee work and civic interests. Discusses involvement in joint American-Brazilian program, started by Carl Djerassi of Stanford, to encourage chemistry research in Brazil (1969-77). Consultant to World Bank loan projects for scientific laboratories in Brazil and, later, China and Mexico. Guest professor at Shandong University (1984). Executive board member of National Partnership for Advanced Computational Infrastructure. Thirty-year involvement with Villa Esperanza, after daughter Sharon was born with Down syndrome. Talks about sociological changes at the institute. Students who are leaders in the field of quantum reaction dynamics: D. Truhlar, G. Schatz, and J. Bowman; plus J. Kaye at NASA. Philosophy about sabbaticals in aiding his scientific activity
Interview with Charles A. Barnes
Full text linkInterview in six sessions, July and August 1987, with Charles A. Barnes, professor of physics, Caltech. He talks about his childhood and adolescence in Ontario, Canada; his early affinity for mathematics and science; undergraduate years at Canada’s McMaster University; wartime work in the British-Canadian atomic energy project at Chalk River, Montreal; and postwar PhD studies in physics at the University of Cambridge, working with O. Frisch and D. Wilkinson. The discussion of his 40-year career in Caltech's Kellogg Radiation Laboratory deals with many aspects of the lab’s history, personnel, and research contributions. Barnes talks about his nuclear physics collaborations with W. Fowler, T. Lauritsen, C. Lauritsen, and R. Christy. He gives a detailed account of his and Kellogg’s accelerator-based investigations into the nature of the weak nuclear interaction—a key focus of postwar work in quantum field theory and the development of grand unified theories—and describes research collaborations in this area with theorists M. Gell-Mann and R. P. Feynman. He talks about Kellogg’s social and scientific culture, the development of its accelerators and the chronology of its research, its groundbreaking investigations into stellar evolution and stellar nucleosynthesis, and the awarding of the 1983 Nobel Prize in physics to Fowler for his work in nucleosynthesis. Barnes describes his work with J. Bahcall on the solar neutrino flux and discusses the research contributions of K. Thorne, J. DuMond, F. Boehm, M. Schmidt, and G. J. Wasserburg, among others. The interview also covers Kellogg’s role in the physics and astrophysics community, both within and beyond Caltech, and the lab’s relationship with Caltech administration, including presidents and division chairs; Barnes’s work with students; and his views on current trends and future directions in physics and astrophysics
Interview with Joseph H. Heller
Full text linkJoseph H. Heller recounts his childhood recollections of Richard P. Feynman, whom he refers to as Richy, during the 1920s and up to 1935 in Far Rockaway, New York, and then the resumption of contact between the two in Los Angeles in the 1950s. Heller's older brother, Elmer, was a close friend of Feynman's; Feynman frequently spent time with the Heller brothers in their home. The reminiscences include Feynman's first wife, Arline Greenbaum, and the beginnings of her relationship to Richard Feynman. Heller recounts teaching Arline to row and Richard to play trap drums. He traces parallels in the paths of his brother and Feynman, both of whom he notes worked during World War II at Palmer Physical Laboratory in Princeton on the Manhattan Project and then subsequently taught at Cornell. He touches on the later brief relationship of Elmer Heller to Feynman in Los Angeles in the 1950s; relations of both brothers with Feynman tail off after Feynman's marriage to Gweneth Howarth [1960]. Discussion of some details surrounding illness and death of Arline Greenbaum [died 1945]. Heller recalls others from Far Rockaway High School social group: Harold Gast, David Leff, Buzzy Mann, Robert Stappler. Interview concludes with further anecdotes about childhood and high school years; Feynman's childhood names of Richy versus Ritty; and reference to a set of letters and documents given by Heller to the Caltech Archives from the papers of his deceased brother relating to Feynman
Interview with Christopher E. Brennen
Full text linkAn interview in three sessions, November-December 2002, with Christopher E. Brennen, Hayman Professor of Mechanical Engineering, emeritus, in the Engineering Division. Dr. Brennen, a native of Northern Ireland who eventually became a U.S. citizen, received his undergraduate and graduate education at Oxford (PhD 1967) and came to Caltech as a postdoc in 1969 with Theodore Y. Wu, after a stint with George Gadd at the U.K.’s National Physical Laboratory. At Caltech, he was a research fellow, senior research fellow, and research associate before being appointed associate professor in 1976. He became a full professor in 1982 and received the Hayman chair in 2005, becoming emeritus in 2010. From 1993 to 1998, he was executive officer for mechanical engineering.
Dr. Brennen discusses his early work with Wu on locomotion of ciliated microorganisms and his later collaborations with Allan Acosta, Milton Plesset, and Rolf Sabersky, among others. He recalls his early teaching duties and emphasizes his concern with the welfare of Caltech’s undergraduates, in his role as master of student houses (1983-1987), dean of students (1988-1992), and vice president for student affairs (1998-2002). Describes atmosphere at Caltech during the Vietnam War and the height of the drug culture. Concludes with an overview of the careers of his own graduate students and expresses his hope that Caltech will continue working to attract top-level undergraduates
Interview with Fred C. Anson
Full text linkAn interview in two sessions, February 1997, with Fred C. Anson, Elizabeth W. Gilloon Professor of Chemistry, in the Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. Professor Anson received his BS in chemistry in 1954 from Caltech and his PhD from Harvard in 1957. That year, he returned to Caltech as an instructor in the chemistry division, becoming an assistant professor in 1958, an associate professor in 1962, full professor in 1968, and holder of the Gilloon chair in 1995.
In this interview, he recalls his early education in South San Gabriel, his undergraduate years on a Los Angeles Times scholarship, and his graduate years at Harvard. He describes the state of the chemistry division in the late fifties and early sixties and his experiences as executive officer and then chairman of the division (1984-1994). He discusses his role as chairman of the presidential search committee resulting in the selection of Marvin L. (Murph) Goldberger, 1978. Recalls conflict over establishing an army research center (the Arroyo Center) at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in the early eighties. Comments on his relationship with provost R. E. Vogt during his division chairmanship. He discusses working with the electrochemists Lucien Gierst (Brussels, 1964) and Heinz Gerischer (Berlin, 1984). Recalls establishment of the Beckman Institute. Comments on the growth of Caltech and its divisions and the consequent increased pressure on the faculty and decline in collegiality. Recalls his various awards, including receiving an honorary doctorate from the Sorbonne in 1993
Interview with Clarence R. Allen
Full text linkAn interview in two sessions in April 1994 with Clarence R. Allen, emeritus professor of geology and geophysics in the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences. Dr. Allen matriculated at Reed College in 1942, then spent three years (1943 to 1946) in the Army Air Corps before returning to graduate with a major in physics. He entered Caltech as a graduate student in geophysics in 1949 (MS, 1951; PhD in structural geology and geophysics, 1954). After a year as assistant professor at the University of Minnesota, he came to Caltech as an assistant professor in 1955, becoming a full professor in 1964.
In this interview, he discusses growing up in Southern California; his early interest in science and the outdoors; and his wartime career as a navigator in the Army Air Corps. He recalls his years as a Caltech graduate student and his thesis work on the San Andreas fault; his work on glaciology with Robert P. Sharp; his growing interest in seismology; and his work with Charles Richter, Hugo Benioff, and Beno Gutenberg in Caltech’s Seismological Laboratory. He discusses the interplay at the Seismo Lab in the 1950s between Richter and Gutenberg; the changes wrought by the advent of Frank Press as director in 1957; and the work of Kerry Sieh in paleoseismology. Praise for the division chairmanship (1952-1968) of Robert Sharp.
Comments on the “science” of earthquake prediction and failed prediction efforts by the Russians and the Chinese. The rise of Caltech to public prominence in the area of seismology. He discusses his own work on earthquake faults as they bear on the assessment of seismic hazards and notes the usefulness of probabilistic analysis in long-term planning to avoid earthquake damage
Interview with Robert A. Rosenstone
Full text linkInterview in two sessions, June 27 and July 20, 2005, with Robert A. Rosenstone, professor of history in the Division of Humanities and Social Sciences.
Dr. Rosenstone, a native of Montreal, received his BA (1957) in literature and his PhD (1965) in history from UCLA. He taught for a year and a half at the University of Oregon in Eugene, then came to Caltech as a visiting assistant professor. He joined the faculty of the humanities division in 1968, received tenure the following year, and became a full professor in 1975, specializing in the Modern Age and in history in film, a subfield of which he is the leading exponent.
In this interview, he discusses how his interest in film developed. In 1975, he began teaching a pioneering course at Caltech on history as it is presented in movies. He recalls his early association with the Academy Award-winning 1981 movie Reds, and later with The Good Fight, a feature-length 1984 documentary on the Lincoln Brigade, for both of which he was the historical consultant, and how these associations contributed to his development of the subfield of history in film. He recalls his stint as executive officer for the humanities (1983-1986) and his involvement in the art world at Caltech, where he served on the Institute Art Committee for twenty years and oversaw the Baxter Art Gallery. He discusses the early art exhibitions in Dabney Lounge in the late 1960s and the subsequent founding of the Baxter Art Gallery in the early 1970s, in collaboration with the Pasadena Art Allliance. There is a lengthy discussion of the Baxter Gallery's history and the possible reasons for its demise in 1985. He also recalls the latest art flap at Caltech, over the proposed installation of a Richard Serra wall on the lawn in front of the Beckman Institute, the campus opposition to it, and his decision to resign from the Institute Art Committee as a result of its precipitous cancellation by Caltech president David Baltimore. He concludes by commenting on the division and the disconnect within it between the humanities and the social sciences
Interview with Sterling H. Emerson
Full text linkAn interview in three sessions, in March and April 1979, with Sterling Howard Emerson, professor of genetics, emeritus, in the Division of Biology. Dr. Emerson came to Caltech in 1928 as an assistant professor in the division, newly established under Thomas Hunt Morgan. He discusses his youth in Lincoln, Nebraska, and attendance at Cornell (BS, 1922), where his father, horticulturalist Rollins A. Emerson, taught plant genetics. Graduate work at the University of Michigan (PhD 1928). He recalls the early days of genetics after the rediscovery of Mendelism: meeting Columbia geneticists Morgan, A. H. Sturtevant, Calvin Bridges; H. J. Muller at Cold Spring Harbor (summer 1921); recruitment of Caltech’s biologists under Morgan; the Biology Council (1942-1946) running the division after Morgan’s retirement; the advent of George Beadle; his work with the AEC’s Division of Biology and Medicine (1955-1957); Morgan’s relationship with Caltech head R. A. Millikan; interaction with Linus Pauling. Memories of Sturtevant, Frits Went, Ernest Anderson, Robert Emerson, Henry Borsook, Albert Tyler, James Bonner, Norman Horowitz, C. A. G. Wiersma, A. J. Haagen-Smit, Roger Sperry. Discussion of his own work, chiefly on genetic recombination and adaptive changes in Oenothera and Neurospora