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AIP Niels Bohr Library & Archives

@history.aip.org
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We are AIP's Niels Bohr Library & Archives. We preserve and make known the history of the physical sciences. www.aip.org/library

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AIP Niels Bohr Library & Archives @history.aip.org · 18/09/2026
"Scientific breakthroughs do not magically translate themselves into useful products and services." AIP oral history interviews, along with quantitative data, were important to Jungkyu Suh's research on how firms translate scientific knowledge into technological innovation. bit.ly/4rjaUC7
aip.org
How Scientific Knowledge Moves: Oral Histories, Soviet Lasers, & Innovation Research
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AIP Niels Bohr Library & Archives @history.aip.org · 02/09/2026
NBLA has been the longtime holders of photographs from physicist Hertha Sponer’s album from Göttingen. Thanks to a recent project, it is now properly situated as Sponer's, not Franck's collection. www.aip.org/library/ex-libris-unive…
aip.org
Hertha Sponer at Göttingen
September Photos of the Month
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Trevor Owens @tjowens.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Lots of great activity in the latest @history.aip.org monthly update! Especially exciting to see the Nancy Grace Roman Papers now digitized and online to coincide with the launch of the new space telescope. Read it here -> www.aip.org/history/augu...
aip.org
August 2026
AIP History August Update
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AIP Niels Bohr Library & Archives @history.aip.org · 28/08/2026
A year ago, the Niels Bohr Library & Archives launched an initiative inviting scientists to submit their digital photos for our collections. Since then, dozens of new images have helped us document the human side of 21st-century science: bit.ly/4xolBFP
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There’s a Place for You in the Archives
August Photos of the Month The Faces of the Physical Sciences
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AIP Niels Bohr Library & Archives @history.aip.org · 18/08/2026
Three rare offprints offer a glimpse into the early career of pioneering crystallographer Kathleen Lonsdale—one of the first two women elected to the Royal Society. Post by historian Dr. Melinda Baldwin: hhttps://bit.ly/3SktTiP
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NBLA acquires offprints of three papers by Kathleen Yardley Lonsdale
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AIP Niels Bohr Library & Archives @history.aip.org · 07/08/2026
In 1978, the American Astronomical Society voted to stop holding meetings in states that had not ratified the Equal Rights Amendment. What seemed like a routine announcement quickly sparked resignations, controversy, and even an IRS ultimatum. bit.ly/3TCsrIR
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Equal Rights Amendment Controversy in the American Astronomical Association
How the Women’s Rights Movement Collided with the AAS
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AIP Niels Bohr Library & Archives @history.aip.org · 29/07/2026
K. Renee Horton is a physicist and engineer living with hearing loss whose career spans materials science, physics, aerospace, and advocacy for disability inclusion in STEM. 📷 NASA - Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons. #DisabilityPrideMonth #BlackInSTEM #AccessibilityInScience
Portrait of K. Renee Horton standing in front of a giant warehouse at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.
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AIP Niels Bohr Library & Archives @history.aip.org · 14/07/2026
Carl A. Rouse would have been 100 years old #OTD 🎂 📷 Lorraine Moxley-Rouse and Carl Rouse in at home in Del Mar, California. AIP ESVA. 📷 Carl Rouse at his home office, seated in front of the PC he uses to access the San Diego Supercomputer Center. AIP ESVA #PhysicsHistory #STEMLegacy
Informal portrait of Carl Rouse and his wife, Lorraine, sitting outside their Del Mar home. Portrait of Carl Rouse at the computer in his home office, which connects to the San Diego Supercomputer Center.
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AIP Niels Bohr Library & Archives @history.aip.org · 10/07/2026
In celebration of Disability Pride Month, we pulled archival images from the remarkable life of Nobel Prize-winning crystallographer Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin, who lived most of her adult life with rheumatoid arthritis. Read on our blog: bit.ly/4h6fy3m
Informal portrait of Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin at an International Union of Crystallography conference.
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AIP Niels Bohr Library & Archives @history.aip.org · 08/07/2026
Meet Wanda Díaz-Merced, an astronomer with vision impairment who has advanced the use of sonification—turning data into sound—to enable her to participate in science. It also improves the work of seeing scientists. 📷 IAU/M. Zamani. CC BY 4.0. #DisabilityPrideMonth #AccessibilityInSTEM
Informal portrait of astronomer Wanda Diaz-Merced. She holds a white cane.
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AIP Niels Bohr Library & Archives @history.aip.org · 03/07/2026
Particle physicist Bibha Chowdhuri was born #OTD in 1913. She was one of the earliest women in particle physics in India and her foundational research on cosmic rays helped lay groundwork for the study of mesons. 📷 Wikimedia Commons #BibhaChowdhuri #ParticlePhysics #CosmicRays #WomenInPhysics
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AIP Niels Bohr Library & Archives @history.aip.org · 01/07/2026
It’s #DisabilityPrideMonth. Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein is a theoretical cosmologist researching dark matter and the early universe. She also lives with chronic pain and is a leading advocate for increasing inclusivity in physics - see the Particles for Justice movement. 📷 AAS, courtesy ESVA
Chanda Prescod Weinstein speaks at the AAS 241st annual meeting.
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AIP Niels Bohr Library & Archives @history.aip.org · 29/06/2026
📚 From biographies and memoirs to romance novels, LGBTQ+ scientists and stories have shaped how we understand the world. AIP’s librarians curated a reading list that reflects just how wide that impact is. bit.ly/4uUvFVL #PrideMonth #LGBTQinSTEM
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Pride Month Book Recommendations
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AIP Niels Bohr Library & Archives @history.aip.org · 26/06/2026
Physics is just boring math? 📚 Our shelves suggest otherwise. From music and meteorology to art, religion, design, science fiction, and the history of ideas, the history of physics reaches far beyond equations. #HistoryOfScience #PhysicsHistory #LibraryLife #Archives #ScienceBooks #NBLA
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AIP Niels Bohr Library & Archives @history.aip.org · 26/06/2026
From biographies and memoirs to romance novels, LGBTQ+ scientists and stories have shaped how we understand the world. AIP’s librarians curated a reading list that reflects just how wide that impact is. What’s on your Pride reading list this year? #PrideMonth #LGBTQinSTEM #ScienceHistory
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AIP Niels Bohr Library & Archives @history.aip.org · 25/06/2026
For decades, AIP attempted something that sounds almost impossible: documenting physics-related archival collections from repositories around the world. The result was ICOS, the International Catalog of Sources. Learn about the history of the project & why it's being retired: bit.ly/4gulzGG
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Standing down the International Catalog of Sources
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AIP Niels Bohr Library & Archives @history.aip.org · 17/06/2026
⚽ Most families have one overachiever. The Bohrs had two. Harald Bohr played soccer for Denmark at the 1908 Olympics while his brother Niels went on to win a Nobel Prize in Physics. Read the surprisingly sporty history: bit.ly/3SLgPmf #HistoryOfScience #FootballHistory
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Field Theory: The Soccer Careers of the Bohr Brothers
June Photos of the Month
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AIP Niels Bohr Library & Archives @history.aip.org · 10/06/2026
📚🌌 “I study exploding binary stars while exploding the myth of a gender binary.” Astrophysicist Jan Eldridge’s 2024 oral history is a wonderful reminder that the history of science includes research, teaching, fandom, advocacy, and identity all at once. bit.ly/43fObfk
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The Power of Oral Histories
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AIP Niels Bohr Library & Archives @history.aip.org · 01/06/2026
Astronomer Frank Kameny earned his PhD at Harvard in 1956 after studying under Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin. A year later, he was fired by the US government for being gay during the Lavender Scare. He fought back & became a major LGBTQ+ rights activist. bit.ly/4jNmMqR #FrankKameny #PrideInSTEM
aip.org
Frank Kameny the astronomer
The famed gay rights leader and accomplished scientist was one of thousands of US government employees who lost their livelihoods during the Lavender Scare.
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AIP Niels Bohr Library & Archives @history.aip.org · 26/05/2026
Physicist Robert Oppenheimer with his horse, Crisis, at his New Mexico ranch in 1940. 🐎 📷 Photo by Katherine "Kitty" Oppenheimer, wife of Robert. Courtesy of AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives
This black and white image features Robert Oppenheimer standing in a field next to a horse named Crisis. Oppenheimer is adjusting the horse's hoof. The photo is labeled circa 1940 with a caption stating, "a stallion no one but Robert could ride."
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AIP Niels Bohr Library & Archives @history.aip.org · 21/05/2026
Emilio Segrè (left), namesake of our visual archives, sips tea with Homi J. Bhabha (right), who has been called the “master builder of nuclear India.” 📸AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives, Segrè Collection
Black and white photo of two men seated indoors, sipping tea
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AIP Niels Bohr Library & Archives @history.aip.org · 20/05/2026
When you do your job so well that 60 years later some poor archivist has to spend 3 hours alphabetizing your fan mail... AIP's popular Placement Service, which helped match physics jobseekers to employers, ran from 1946-1978. Collection finding aid: history.aip.org/ead/20250576.html
A large table covered with numerous documents and papers, situated in a carpeted office space. In the background, there are two patterned chairs, a desk with a computer, and a large scanner.A close-up of a letter from the American Institute of Physics dated August 12, 1970. The letter is addressed to Mr. Glassbrenner and is from Valerie Villano, Placement Service. It mentions an attached copy of the "Summary of Academic Openings" for August and humorously refers to previous requests not having a summary list.
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AIP Niels Bohr Library & Archives @history.aip.org · 18/05/2026
Happy International Museum Day! www.aip.org/library/museum-tour
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Museum Tour
Some of the coolest virtual museums on the Internet
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Trevor Owens @tjowens.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
In this new interview for @aiphistory.bsky.social I talked with physicist Shohini Ghose about her research on hidden histories of women in science, archival evidence, and why storytelling matters in teaching physics and astronomy. www.aip.org/library/ex-l...
aip.org
Illuminating the Invisible: Shohini Ghose on Women Who Transformed Our View of the Cosmos
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AIP Niels Bohr Library & Archives @history.aip.org · 12/05/2026
Physicist Shohini Ghose reflects on the women scientists whose groundbreaking work transformed our understanding of the universe while often remaining unrecognized in the historical record in her book "Her Space, Her Time." Read our interview: bit.ly/4ubGXow
aip.org
Illuminating the Invisible: Shohini Ghose on Women Who Transformed Our View of the Cosmos
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Trevor Owens @tjowens.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
For Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, @aiphistory.bsky.social shares reading recommendations for all ages, from memoirs of physicists and astronomers to children’s books. www.aip.org/library/ex-l...
aip.org
Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month Reading Recommendations
NBLA Celebrates AAPI Month
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Ryan Dahn @ryandahn.com · 06/05/2026
Extremely proud to say that my new @physicstoday.aip.org feature article is live. In it, I explore the history and context of the rare interviews with J. Robert Oppenheimer recently made public by @aiphistory.bsky.social. physicstoday.aip.org/features/opp...
physicstoday.aip.org
Oppenheimer reflects on his early career
Interviews now available to the public bring the famed physicist’s lesser-known early years to life.
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AIP Niels Bohr Library & Archives @history.aip.org · 30/04/2026
Ahmed Zewail (1946-2016) was a chemist known for his pioneering work on femtochemistry. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1999, making him the first Egyptian to receive a science Nobel Prize. 📷© Christian Brun / EPFL, courtesy AIP ESVA, PT Collection #ArabAmericanHeritageMonth
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AIP Niels Bohr Library & Archives @history.aip.org · 29/04/2026
April 26 – May 2, 2026 is Preservation Week - an important time to reflect on our oral history interview collection! 🎤 www.aip.org/library/ex-libris-unive…
aip.org
Preservation Week: A Reflection on Interviewing Early-Career Women Physicists
The theme for this year’s preservation week is Is This Thing On?: Preserving Memory and Building Archives and focuses on documenting personal memories and narratives. Explore the work that goes into o...
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AIP Niels Bohr Library & Archives @history.aip.org · 28/04/2026
Maha Ashour-Abdalla (1943-2016) was a physicist and astronomer who spent much of her career teaching at UCLA. She founded UCLA’s Center for Digital Innovation in 1999, as well as the UCLA Space Plasma Simulation Group. 📷 Courtesy UCLA Newsroom. #ArabAmericanHeritageMonth #WomeninPhysics
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AIP Niels Bohr Library & Archives @history.aip.org · 27/04/2026
The new open access volume "Archives of Science: Challenges and Opportunities in the 21st Century," confronts a central question: How can archives keep pace with the evolving practices of science? Check out @tjowens.bsky.social's interview with ed. Polina Ilieva: bit.ly/4sYPSrU
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The Future of Archives of Science: An Interview with Polina Ilieva
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AIP Niels Bohr Library & Archives @history.aip.org · 24/04/2026
Munir Nayfeh (b. 1945) is a particle physicist best known for his pioneering work in nanotechnology. 📷 Nayfeh (right) examines the experimental setup used in the one-atom detection at Oak Ridge. ORNL, courtesy AIP ESVA #ArabAmericanHeritageMonth
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AIP Niels Bohr Library & Archives @history.aip.org · 24/04/2026
Research for this post began with a sense that most celebrations of Asian and Asian American history often leave out South Asians. The author found a fascinating history of South Asian scientists not just making contributions to but often leading the way in 20th century physics. bit.ly/4mP0iJa
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Colonial Calcutta as a Nexus of Scientific Development
Part 1 of a 2-part series on South Asian scientists for the April Photos of the Month
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AIP Niels Bohr Library & Archives @history.aip.org · 22/04/2026
“If indeed no worldwide action to reduce fossil fuel use would be taken, it might be better to focus research on how best to live with the consequences rather than, like Cassandra, deliver prophecies no one believes.” - William Elliot, 1977 #EarthDay #climatechange Listen now bit.ly/4cnFjcV
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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
Last week, @aiphistory.bsky.social announced it would provide open access to 3 interviews w/J. Robert Oppenheimer. In today's #histSTM & #physics lunchtime read, @wellerstein.bsky.social shares his initial reactions to these oral histories: www.aip.org/history/well... 🗃️📜
aip.org
The AIP Oppenheimer interviews: An expert perspective
AIP History Weekly Edition: April 17, 2026
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AIP Niels Bohr Library & Archives @history.aip.org · 20/04/2026
📚Celebrate National Library Week and Right to Read Day with us! This year’s theme is 🌟Find Your Joy 🌟 Learn more at bit.ly/43D9Dtw 📷 Mrs. Mendenhall [Susan Allan Marple] reading in garden of hotel in Lugano, Switzerland. AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives.
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Daniel Pomarède @pomarede.bsky.social · 19/04/2026
Digitizing the Legacy of Women in Physics: Genesis Boykin and the Gloria Lubkin Papers www.aip.org/foundation/d... ⚛️ @aiphistory.bsky.social @aip.bsky.social @physicstoday.aip.org
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Digitizing the Legacy of Women in Physics: Genesis Boykin and the Gloria Lubkin Papers
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AIP Niels Bohr Library & Archives @history.aip.org · 15/04/2026
Mostafa El-Sayed (b. 1933 in Zifta, Egypt) is a US Medal of Science laureate known for his work in physical chemistry and nanoscience. He created the El-Sayed rule for phosphorescence and similar phenomena. 📷 Elledw - CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons #ArabAmericanHeritageMonth #HistoryofPhysics
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AIP Niels Bohr Library & Archives @history.aip.org · 10/04/2026
Get a behind-the-scenes look at the materials on display at Dr. Elise Crull's Trimble Lecture on Hertha Sponer, including a newly rediscovered lecture transcript! bit.ly/3QtxHNb #WomeninSTEM #WomensHistory #HistoryofPhysics 📷 AIP ESVA, Lisa Lisco
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AIP Niels Bohr Library & Archives @history.aip.org · 09/04/2026
Hassan Aref (1950-2011) specialized in fluid mechanics and was the Reynolds Metals Professor in the Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics at Virginia Tech. 📷 Photograph by Joanne Ford, courtesy AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives, PT Collection. #ArabAmericanHeritageMonth #HistoryofPhysics
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Robert McNees @mcnees.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
Astronomer Kent Ford was born #OTD in 1931. He is best known for his pioneering work on imaging tubes for capturing astronomical data electronically, and for his collaborations with Vera Rubin that helped build the case for the existence of Dark Matter. 🧪 ⚛️ 🔭 Image: Michael Lucibella / APS
A photo of Kent Ford, who is pointing to his tube spectrograph in a famous photo of Vera Rubin standing in front of the apparatus. It is a recent photo, so Ford is older. He is wearing a dark jacket, a white collared shirt with thin blue stripes, and a lemon yellow tie with small birds printed on it. There is a black bin in his shirt pocket and he is wearing glasses. Ford appears to be explaining something about the photo to someone to the left of the photographer.
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AIP Niels Bohr Library & Archives @history.aip.org · 07/04/2026
@physicstoday.aip.org
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AIP Niels Bohr Library & Archives @history.aip.org · 07/04/2026
In 2023, AIP acquired the records of the long-time editor for Physics Today, Gloria Lubkin. This post takes a look at her seminal trip to China in 1979. www.aip.org/library/ex-libris-unive…
aip.org
Into the Gloria Lubkin papers: A behind-the-scenes look at her reporting in China for Physics Today
In 1979, Lubkin traveled to China to report on the state of physics innovation post-Cultural Revolution. Archives Fellow Dorothy Tang takes a deep dive into the Lubkin papers to understand the details...
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AIP Niels Bohr Library & Archives @history.aip.org · 06/04/2026
Omar Yaghi was one of three chemists awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize“for the development of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs).” (ACA) 📷 Christopher Michel - CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons #ArabAmericanHeritageMonth #HistoryofPhysics
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AIP Niels Bohr Library & Archives @history.aip.org · 03/04/2026
🌈🌈 Here’s your sign to go find a rainbow today🌈🌈 📷 A rainbow over Sir Isaac Newton's home and his famous apple tree at Woolsthorpe Manor, England. Photograph by Roy Bishop, Acadia University, courtesy of AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives. #NationalFindARainbowDay #HistoryofPhysics #Archives
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AIP Niels Bohr Library & Archives @history.aip.org · 31/03/2026
This is the first English language article about Irina Zaslavskaya, a Ukrainian physicist who bravely protested the KGB in the 1960s and faced dire consequences. www.aip.org/library/ex-libris-unive…
aip.org
Who was Irina Zaslavskaya?
March Photos of the Month
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Will Thomas @williamthomas.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
To close out Women's History Month, in today's AIP History Weekly Edition we look at The Observatory Pinafore. The satire offers a window into how women's roles at the observatory changed between its writing in 1879 and performance in 1929-30—a remarkable narrative of opportunity and frustration.
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The Observatory Pinafore and the changing place of women in Harvard astronomy
AIP History Weekly Edition: March 27, 2026
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AIP Niels Bohr Library & Archives @history.aip.org · 24/03/2026
A close look at the oral history interviews of chemical engineer Paula Hammond, biomedical engineer Anjelica Gonzalez, and physicist Shirley Ann Jackson www.aip.org/library/ex-libris-unive…
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In Her Own Words: Black Women Scientists Reflect on Meaningful Accomplishments
Chemical engineer Paula Hammond, biomedical engineer Anjelica Gonzalez, and physicist Shirley Ann Jackson, describe their best accomplishments in oral history interviews.
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AIP Niels Bohr Library & Archives @history.aip.org · 19/03/2026
A little #ThrowbackThursday to Thursday of last week, when we celebrated Women’s History Month with a librarian and archivist-led AIP Wikipedia edit-a-thon focusing on women in the physical sciences, with special training by Wikimedia DC!
Three people working at a deskFour people sitting at a desk and smiling at the cameraThree people presenting in front of a screenbooks on a table
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AIP Niels Bohr Library & Archives @history.aip.org · 17/03/2026
🌟Women in Science Spotlight: Sau Lan Wu 🌟 Sau Lan Wu (1940-) is a Chinese-American particle physicist who played a part in three major discoveries: the charm quark, the gluon, and the Higgs boson. Learn more about her life & accomplishments in spite of growing up in poverty: bit.ly/4uwOWwG
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Sau Lan Wu: Particle Physicist
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