Documenting the History of Physicists in Industry

American Institute Of Physics, College Park MD

Investigators

Abstract

Proposal Abstract SES Proposal 0137113 Documenting the History of Physicists in Industry Joseph Anderson, American Institute of Physics Corporate R&D represents a major segment of the American science establishment, and our nation's prosperity rests in large part on a brilliant century of industrial research and innovation. However, the history of industrial R&D is one of the least documented segments of American society. The Center for History of Physics of the American Institute of Physics (AIP) proposes to conduct a three-year project to 1) create new sources of information through oral history interviews, surveys, and site visits; 2) identify extant sources; and 3) study how to preserve the history of industrial R&D on a continuing basis. The project examines 15 of the 25 companies that employ more than half of the Ph.D. physicists in American industry. With lead support from the Science and Technology Studies program of the National Science Foundation to cover the salary and fringe benefits of the project historian for the first two years of the project, AIP provides funds for other project activities, with additional support from other funding agencies. The most important result of this undertaking is a new and original evaluation of ways to preserve the history of industrial research. American industrial growth has been based on knowledge and innovation, and these processes have created vast amounts of records, anniversary and historical publications, and other sources. Many of these materials have disappeared but some have survived. In addition, recent developments, especially maturing electronic records systems and more stringent contractual requirements for documenting R&D, offer opportunities for creating new approaches to preserving the history of industrial research on an ongoing basis. The project explores past and present patterns and new developments. Products include findings and recommendations based on an analysis of the records-creation patterns, information needs, and extant historical records of some of the most important research- centered U.S. corporations, as well as transcripts of the oral history interviews with approximately 100 senior scientists and science administrators. This is the first systematic oral history program to document industrial R&D. The oral histories are to be made available to researchers at the conclusion of the project, along with catalog of extant records identified during site visits and interviews. The immediate products of the project 1) give corporate scientists and managers a variety of approaches to preserving their heritage, 2) make available to historians new sources for studying the history of industrial R&D, and 3) provide archivists and other information professionals with new approaches and new tools to appraise and preserve records. Long-term products could include 1) an increased attention on the part of the private sector to preserving their heritage and 2) the integration of industrial research and development into mainstream science and technology studies. The project builds on the History Center's extensive experience in exploring neglected areas in the history of science and creating strategies for documenting them. The design and methodology are modeled on our successful ten-year Study of Multi-Institutional Collaborations, and we expect the findings and recommendations of this project to have an equally important impact in documenting the history of science. The project staff is assisted by an Advisory Committee composed of distinguished industrial scientists, leading corporate archivists, and historians who provide advice and recommendations on the companies to be studied, the scientists to be interviewed, the administrators to contact, and the questions to ask.