Willis E. Lamb Jr. papers
Willis E. Lamb, Jr., center, at the International Symposium on Foundations of Quantum Mechanics in Light of New Technology (ISQM) in Tokyo, Japan, 1986 (Box 4 Folder 1).
Collection area: History of Science
Collection dates: 1937 to 2007
This collection mostly covers the latter portion of Willis Lamb's professional life (late 1970s to the mid 1990s) and relates mostly to a computational physics project, but also quantum mechanics, quantum measurement, Ising structure, the Duffing Equation, laster isotope seperation and others. Of special note is a collection of correspondence, in the form of printed out emails, between Willis Lamb, Bruria Kaufman and a few others in 1993 when email and internet access were in their infancy. There are nearly daily messeges that recount both personal and professional subjects. Additionally there is a draft biography of Richard Feynman by an unknown author, a large painting of Willis Lamb, and several commemorative objects. Almost half of the collection is comprised of digital media, mostly in obsolete forms. Many of these are computer disks with very scant identification such as "T1" or "ARC". The earliest materials in the collection, 1937-1970, are part of the Ursula Lamb materials described in Series VI. These account for about a carton and a half of materials or (1.5 linear feet). The focus is on her research, publications and correspondence related to her various teaching positions.
Willis Eugene Lamb, Jr. was born in Los Angeles in 1913. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in 1934 and a doctorate in 1938 at the University of California. In addition, he was awarded the honorary Doctor of Science by the University of Pennsylvania, Honorary Masters degrees by both Oxford University and Yale University; and honorary Doctor of Humane Letters by Yeshiva University. He has been a member of the faculty at Columbia University, Harvard University, Stanford University, Wykeham Professor of Physics and Fellow of New College at Oxford University, Ford Professor of Physics at Yale University; Regents Professor of Physics at the University of Arizona; and Professor Emeritus of Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona. His research has been concerned with theoretical physics, on atomic and nuclear structure, microwave spectroscopy, fine structure of hydrogen and helium, magnetron oscillators, masers, and lasers; in precise measurements with hydrogen measured a splitting of energy levels (the so-called "Lamb Shift"); developed theory of beta decay and of interactions of neutrons. He is Fellow of the American Physical Society of England and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. His work has been recognized globally, through the Rumford Premium Award, the Research Corporation Award, Guggenheim Fellowship, Yeshiva Award, and the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1955.
Ursula Schaefer Lamb, his first wife of 57 years, was born in Essen/Ruhr, Germany in 1914. She received a Masters of Arts degree in 1937 from the University of California Berkeley and her doctorate at Columbia University in 1949. She was a distinguished Latin American historian specializing in the era of European naval exploration and the history of science. Ursula Lamb taught at Barnard College, Oxford, Yale and the University of Arizona where she was Professor Emerita.
In 1996 Lamb married colleague Bruria Kaufman a theoretical physicist and former lab assistant to Albert Einstein. They later divorced and Lamb married Elsie Wattson in 2008. Willis Lamb passed away later that year in Tucson, Arizona at the age of 94.
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