Physical Sciences

Development of Process Simulation Software

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 11/08/2007 - 20:19.

URL:

http://www.historiesofengineering.org/project/projectdisplay_aiche.asp?PID=2

Annotation:

This site, produced by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, is dedicated to collecting oral histories based on the software used to plan, direct and optimize large, multi-stage chemical production, such as those in a chemical factory. This complex software was developed beginning in the 1960s by a team of Massachusetts Institute of Technology engineers working with computers to simulate the temperatures, movements and mixing involved in chemical processes. Different discussions cover simulation and technical issues, and historical participants are asked to join in the creation of an archive of recollections and materials relating to process simulation software.

Adolf Basser Library

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 11/08/2007 - 20:19.

URL:

http://www.science.org.au/academy/basser/mslist.htm

Author:

Australian Academy of Science

Excerpt:

The manuscript collection contains 208 sets of papers, ranging in quantity from a few sheets of correspondence to many hundreds of items. Individual scientists represented in the collection include significant figures in CSIRO such as Sir David Rivett, Sir Ian Wark and Dr Lloyd Rees, academics such as Professor Frank Fenner and Sir Ernest Titterton and more than 60 other Fellows of the Academy. The collection is not limited to Fellows, however; the papers of Sir Neil Hamilton Fairley, for example, are heavily used by people interested in malarial research. A number of scientific societies have also chosen the Basser Library as the repository for their archives with the Australian Institute of Physics and the Geological Society of Australia providing the largest collections.

Annotation:

This site gives some brief information about the Australian Academy of Science and provides a description of manuscripts housed in the Academy's Basser Library. The site also contains an alphabetical index of the materials in the manuscript collection, which could be an important planning tool for researchers interested in taking a trip to the Library to do research with the papers first-hand. However, the actual manuscripts have not been made available online, so there is no historical information beyond the descriptions and index.

Caltech Archives

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 11/08/2007 - 20:19.

URL:

http://archives.caltech.edu//

Author:

California Institute of Technology

Excerpt:

The Institute Archives serves as the collective memory of Caltech by preserving the papers, documents, artifacts and pictorial materials that tell the school's history, from 1891 to the present. Researchers will also find here a wealth of sources for the history of science and technology worldwide, stretching from the time of Copernicus to today.

Annotation:

The Institute Archives serves as Caltech's collective memory, preserving the papers, documents, artifacts and pictorial materials that tell the school's history, from 1891 to the present. Holdings include manuscript, photographic, print and audio-visual materials, oral histories, fine art and historic artifacts. Many of the photographs are available in digital format (thumbnail and full size) through the photo archive. The site also includes information about using the physical archive, online versions of archive exhibits and facts about the Cal Tech archive.

Australian Science Archives Project

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 11/08/2007 - 20:19.

URL:

http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/

Author:

University of Melbourne - Department of History

Excerpt:

On 3 May 1999 the Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre of the University of Melbourne was formed to sustain the academic, heritage and research activities of the Australian Science Archives Project.

Annotation:

Archive of Australian scientific and corporate material. Contains biographies of over 3,000 Australian scientists as well as listings of documents available for order and a Cabinet of Curiosities-an interpretive creation about Australia's scientific history. Not updated since 1999.

University of Bologna - Department of Astronomy Archives

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 11/08/2007 - 20:19.

URL:

http://www.bo.astro.it/dip/Library/archives.html

Author:

University of Bologna

Excerpt:

Close to the library are the archives, a small collection of letters, meteorological and astronomical observations, papers and drawings related to the scientific and administrative life of the Bologna Observatory. The earliest documents date back to 1696, when a group of astronomers, lead by Eustachio Manfredi, planned the creation of an astronomical institute and the building of the tower. A reorganization of the archives is in progress, in order to give electronic access to documents, but saving the original structure of the archives itself.

Annotation:

Listing of the holdings of the Department of Astronomy Archives at the University of Bologna. Site in English, but listings are in Italian.

LIGHT!/LICHT! Exhibition

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 11/08/2007 - 20:19.

URL:

http://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/light/

Author:

Van Gogh Museum and Carnegie Museum of Art

Excerpt:

In 1857, French physics teacher Jules Jamin publishes an article on his use of photometry to measure light in paintings, demonstrating that artists cannot replicate the brightness of sunlight. For the rest of the century, artists and critics would debate the usefulness, to art, of scientific discoveries about light.

Annotation:

Light! presented by the Van Gogh Museum (Amsterdam) and the Carnegie Museum of Art (Pittsburgh), invites users to trace developments in lighting technology from the 1700s to the present by looking at the effects of light in several areas: science, economics, street, home, art, and entertainment. The exhibition combines images of objects and paintings with text arrayed on a background of bands of spectral colors. The home section begins with a pair of gilt candlesticks from 1807. Accompanying text points out that these golden candlesticks are not just prettier because they are shiny; they light better as well. This section concludes with an electric Tiffany lamp from 1907, and in between, includes the Van Gogh painting "The Potato Eaters," showing a peasant family eating potatoes in an interior lit by a meager kerosene lamp. Other objects of note are an Argand lamp in the economics section, the first lamp to exploit the discovery that flames burn brighter when fed by oxygen, and my favorite, a group of filament lightbulbs from the 1880s on a rack described in the caption as "various nationalities." The art section includes a live Webcam of the Statue of Liberty, and both the entertainment and science sections point out that many innovations in lighting originated in the theater.

Einstein Papers Project

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 11/08/2007 - 20:19.

URL:

http://www.einstein.caltech.edu/

Author:

Caltech Institute of Technology - Editorial staff.

Excerpt:

The Einstein Papers Project (EPP) publishes in large book format The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein, an edition of twenty-five planned volumes of Albert Einstein's scientific, professional and personal papers, manuscripts and correspondence. Eight volumes have been published so far by Princeton University Press; two more are in preparation, to be published within the next three years. Most of the original documents in the Einstein collection are located at The Albert Einstein Archives at the Jewish National and University Library at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Annotation:

Website for the Einstein Papers Project, which has begun to publish an enormous amount of Einstein's papers, both personal and professional. No online resources, however, except for a link to the Einstein Archives Online, which reproduces a portion of the collection.

AIP-Center for History of Physics

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 11/08/2007 - 20:19.

URL:

http://www.aip.org/history/

Author:

American Institute of Physics

Excerpt:

Marie Sklodowska Curie opened up the science of radioactivity. She is best known as the discoverer of the radioactive elements polonium and radium and as the first person to win two Nobel prizes. For scientists and the public, her radium was a key to a basic change in our understanding of matter and energy. Her work not only influenced the development of fundamental science but also ushered in a new era in medical research and treatment.

Annotation:

The American Institute of Physics has combined exhibits with educational syllabi, and archives in this deep site. Included are exhibits about Madame Currie, Albert Einstein, the electron, the transistor and Werner Heisenberg and the Uncertainty Principle. Archives include thousands of digitized images in the Emilio Sagres visual archive, and the book and manuscript catalogue of the Neils Bohr library. The site also includes online syllabi and sample readings for history of physics teachers, information about accessing information at AIP, and online newsletters relating to the library and Center for History of Physics.

Edgar Fahs Smith Collection of Images of Scientists, Laboratories, and Scientific Apparatus

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 11/08/2007 - 20:19.

URL:

http://www.library.upenn.edu/etext/collections/smith/index.html

Author:

Lynne Farrington

Excerpt:

This collection contains over 3,000 images of scientists, laboratories, and scientific apparatus. A selection of these prints, engravings, and photographs is reproduced on this site. Photographs of any of these images may be ordered from an on-line order form.

American Meteorological Society

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 11/08/2007 - 20:19.

URL:

http://www.ametsoc.org/AMS/sloan/index.html

Author:

American Meteorological Society

Excerpt:

Three leading scientific organizations, the American Meteorological Society (AMS), the American Geophysical Union (AGU), and the American Institute of Physics (Center for History of Physics) (AIP), have formed a consortium to experiment with using the World Wide Web to locate, create and preserve historical documentation in science and technology. For selected research topics, pioneers are urged to submit personal recollections, documents or pointers to collections of documents, and comments on materials submitted by others. The material will be gathered in databases, through discussion forums and other mechanisms familiar to most scientists. If we succeed, we will have shown other scientific organizations how to establish low-cost mechanisms for gathering much historical information that would otherwise be lost.

Annotation:

This site has not been updated since 1999, but nonetheless contains excellent primary source material for researches who are interested in one of the two topics on which material was collected: the Clean Air Act and and the GATE experiment of the Global Atmospheric Research program. Both areas include general histories, primary documents, images, interviews, biographies, and links for further study.