Panofsky on Physics, Politics, and Peace Pief Remembers [Hardcover]

This book is not only an autobiography of the respected physicist and director of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, but a discussion and analysis of issues critical to the relationship between independent academic inquiry and imposed government orthodoxy. The book describes each phase of Dr. Panofsky's career in a way that clarifies the nature of the issues surrounding his work, and explains his chosen course of action.

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 devel- ments in which I was able to participate; rather it is a recital of memorable episodes, borrowing from the compulsory preface of a facetious British 1 history: History is not what you thought. It is what you can remember.  Thus this volume suffers from many sins of omission, including full att- bution of deserved credits, but, it is hoped, only few sins of commission.  The author is greatly indebted to his colleagues and his wife, Adele, who kindly reviewed many segments of the manuscript describing shared expe- ences. They are Sidney Drell, Greg Loew, Ed Lofgren, Harvey Lynch, Richard B. Neal, Richard Panofsky, and Burt Richter. But the author, ne- less to say, is responsible for any errors. Because of the multitude of topics into which I was drawn concurrently, a strictly chronological account would prove unreadable. Accordingly the book is divided into chapters, each of which covers a limited period of engagement in a coherent subject matter; an approach clearly again unsystematic but hopefully more conducive to conveying the substance of the work. This account does not include a description of my family life.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 Radiationlãá