Panofsky on Physics, Politics, and Peace

This book is both an autobiography of W.K.H. Panofsky, the respected physicist and director of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center as well as a discussion and analysis of issues critical to the relationship between independent academic inquiry and imposed government orthodoxy. It chronologically discusses the major phases of Dr. Panofsky's life, from his early research at the beginning of World War II to his recent efforts towards arms control and the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons. The book describes each phase of Dr. Panofsky's career in sufficient detail to inform the reader of the nature of the issues surrounding his work, and to lay the basis for explaining the course of action chosen. It invites "out of context" reading by those interested in the particular issues covered, separate from their biographical relevance.

Combines autobiographical information about one of the world's leading physicists with a discussion of relevant science and policy issues

Auteur

Wolfgang K.H. "Pief" Panofsky, a German-American physicist received his bachelor's degree from Princeton University in 1938 and obtained his PhD from Caltech in 1942. In the years 1945-1951, Panofsky held an assistant professorship at Berkeley, before permanently establishing himself as a Professor of Physics at Stanford. Between 1961 and 1984, he was the director of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center.

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Wolfgang K.H. Panofsky is a prominent physicist who has been an active contributor to elementary particle physics, accelerator building, and laboratory administration as well as to international security policy and arms control. This volume is a somewhat unorthodox memoir.

In Panofsky's words:

"This volume contains an unsystematic account of my past work; it is not intended to be an autobiography in the conventional meaning of the term. It is not even remotely a scholarly description of the momentous developments in which I was able to participate; rather it is a recital of memorable episodes, borrowing from the compulsory preface of facetious British history: 'History is not what you thought. It is what you can remember.' "

Pief

Contenu
School Time in Germany.- Transition to the United States and Undergraduate Life at Princeton University.- Graduate Study and War Work at Caltech.- Work at the University of California Radiation Laboratory.- Military Work at Berkeley and the Loyalty Oath.- Beginnings at Stanford.- Research and Teaching Before SLAC.- Science Advising and Arms Control: The Beginnings.- Establishing SLAC.- Building a Laboratory.- Physics and the Cold War.- Student Unrest at Stanford.- Fixed Target Research at SLAC.- New FacilitiesColliding Beams.- International High Energy Physics.- Advances in Accelerator-Based High-Energy Physics.- Science and Politics After Retirement.