Marton, Ladislaus Laszlo, 1901-1979 (physicist) Search this
Collector:
National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Electricity and Modern Physics Search this
Names:
United States. National Bureau of Standards Search this
Extent:
4.66 Cubic feet (15 boxes, one (1) 16 mm film)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Blueprints
Lantern slides
Drawings
Photographs
Correspondence
Diagrams
Slides (photographs)
Notebooks
Date:
1932 - 1970
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of materials documenting the history of electron optics, especially electron microscopes. Included are engineering drawings of Marton's devices, designed in Belgium, Stanford and RCA in the 1930s and 1940s; notebooks concerning extensive investigations in electron microscopy; photographs and micrographs concerning development work in this area of physics; correspondence 1930s 702; and reprints of scientific literature relating to Marton's interests.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into three series.
Series 1: Notebooks, electron microscope, 1920s, undated
Series 2: Photographs, undated
Series 3: Printed Materials, 1940-1970
Biographical / Historical:
Ladislaus L. Marton 1901 1979 was a physicist best known for his pioneer work in electron physics, specifically in electron microscopy, electron optics, and electron interferences and scattering. He came to the United States in 1938, and became a naturalized citizen in 1944. He was a member of the faculty at the University of Brussels (Belgium), 1928 1938, and assistant professor from 1933 1938. He was a research physicist at the RCA Manufacturing Company from 1938 1941. He was associate professor of electron optics, head division Stanford University, 1941 1946. He was a physicist from 1946 1970 at the National Bureau of Standards in Washington. Until his death he was an honorable research associate at the Smithsonian Institution.
Provenance:
Collection donated by Ladislaus Laszlo Marton, circa 1970.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Experimental Investigation of Energy Broadening in Electron Optical Instruments by Hans C. Pfeiffer
Collection Author:
Marton, Ladislaus Laszlo, 1901-1979 (physicist) Search this
Container:
Box 10, Folder 1
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Collection Citation:
Ladislaus Laszlo Marton Collection, 1932-1970, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Medical Sciences Search this
National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Medical Sciences Search this
Container:
Item RF12 222.20
Type:
Archival materials
Scope and Contents:
Division of Electron Optics, Stanford University. 1 reel (599 ft.) : si., col. & b&w : 16mm. positive. Credits: Built by L. Morton, Stanford University; F. Bubb; J. Guebmrier; S. W. Grinnell; R. G. E. Hutter; A. Jansse; C. Marton; F. Molnar; F. Pool. Summary: 000-124 - b&w; factory, delicate machinary, fitting pieces together. 125-152 - col.; man soldering. 153-206 - b&w; men working with lathe, cleaning center of disc, attach cylinder.
207-351 - col.; men still attaching components, woman comes to see. 352-381 - b&w; two men wiring and soldering.
382-499 - col.; installing electric system; delicate work; cartoon of man looking through microscope at man sitting on sliver of moon in sky.
499-599 - col.; adjusting lens of microscope—suburban house and neighborhood (car ca. 1950s.) Reason for inclusion in Medical Sciences Collection or Advertising Series is unclear.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Collection Citation:
Medical Sciences Film Collection, circa 1930s-1960s, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
The collection is open for research use. Gloves must be worn when handling unprotected photographs and negatives.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning intellectual property rights. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions. Copyright held by the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Citation:
Ralph H. Baer Papers, 1943-2015, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
Hans W.G. Salinger joined ITT Industrial Laboratories in 1936. In his career with the company he was a research engineer, Head of the Radar Department, Acting Director of the Components and Instrumentation Laboratory, and Scientific Advisor to the Laboratory Director of ITT Industrial Laboratories Division. Salinger received his PhD from the University of Berlin and was awarded 19 patents. His experience included development work associated with circuit theory, acoustics, magnetic materials, electron optics and ballistics, wave filters, research and development on submarine cables, telegraphy, analog computers for fire control, photomultipliers, and infrared systems.
This series contains materials that were originally in a binder labeled "H. Salinger." It includes his reports and notes regarding the Omegatron, magnetic focusing in image tubes, picture quality in electrostatic dissectors, photometric units, and image tubes.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Collection Citation:
ITT Industrial Laboratories Electron Tube Research Records, 1934-1984, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Electron Microscope, Division of Electron Optics, Stanford University, Miscellaneous Photos
Collection Author:
Marton, Ladislaus Laszlo, 1901-1979 (physicist) Search this
Container:
Box 5
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Collection Citation:
Ladislaus Laszlo Marton Collection, 1932-1970, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Marton, Ladislaus Laszlo, 1901-1979 (physicist) Search this
Container:
Box 7
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Collection Citation:
Ladislaus Laszlo Marton Collection, 1932-1970, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Towe, Kenneth M. and Moench, T. T. 1981. "Electron-optical Characterization of Bacterial Magnetite." Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 52, (1) 213–220.
This series contains three sessions with four of the pioneers of early X-ray astronomy at the Electron Optics Branch of the NRL: Edward T. Byram, Talbot A. Chubb,
Herbert Friedman, and Robert Kreplin. They discussed the sources of employees and equipment; changes in equipment and launch vehicles; preparation of equipment for launches;
working environment at the NRL; and interpretation of experimental data. DeVorkin complemented each interview with extensive visual documentation of the equipment discussed
and of the laboratories where it was developed and tested. Sessions were recorded at the National Air and Space Museum and the Naval Research Laboratory between December 1986
and July 1987.
In Sessions One through Three, DeVorkin interviewed all four participants in a group and then in pairs to review the progression of astronomical research at the NRL between
1945 and the early 1960s. Scientists from physics and engineering backgrounds collaborated on the adaptation and development of radiation detection equipment to exploit the
higher altitudes attained by successive generations of rockets.
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 9539, Naval Research Laboratory Space Science Videohistory Collection
Naval Research Laboratory Space Science Videohistory Collection
Extent:
8 videotapes (Reference copies). 22 digital .wmv files and .rm files (Reference copies).
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Videotapes
Transcripts
Date:
1986-1987
Introduction:
The Smithsonian Videohistory Program, funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation from 1986 until 1992, used video in historical research. Additional collections have
been added since the grant project ended. Videohistory uses the video camera as a historical research tool to record moving visual information. Video works best in historical
research when recording people at work in environments, explaining artifacts, demonstrating process, or in group discussion. The experimental program recorded projects that
reflected the Institution's concern with the conduct of contemporary science and technology.
Smithsonian historians participated in the program to document visual aspects of their on-going historical research. Projects covered topics in the physical and biological
sciences as well as in technological design and manufacture. To capture site, process, and interaction most effectively, projects were taped in offices, factories, quarries,
laboratories, observatories, and museums. Resulting footage was duplicated, transcribed, and deposited in the Smithsonian Institution Archives for scholarship, education,
and exhibition. The collection is open to qualified researchers.
Descriptive Entry:
David H. DeVorkin, curator at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum (NASM), recorded five sessions with the men at the NRL who pioneered the sciences of X-ray
astronomy and aeronomy. DeVorkin was particularly interested in how technologies and techniques developed for one purpose crossed disciplinary boundaries to affect or create
others. Participants detailed how they adopted, applied, or improved on extant technologies for their hybrid research; throughout the sessions there is ample visual documentation
of artifacts and working equipment used at the NRL. The video sessions were arranged in two series: 1) X-ray astronomy and 2) aeronomy.
This collection consists of five interview sessions, separated into two series, totally approximately 16:00 hours of recordings and 390 pages of transcript.
Historical Note:
World War II and the advent of the Cold War led the United States government to underwrite basic scientific research that could be applied to military purposes. Because
the United States Navy was concerned about the effect of nuclear radiation on its wireless radio communication system, it funded studies in astronomy and aeronomy--the examination
of the earth's atmosphere--at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) in Washington, D.C. Wartime advances in rocketry and electronics enabled physicists and engineers to study
non-visible radiation at ever greater distances from the earth's surface. These studies resulted in more sophisticated views of the composition of the atmosphere and of solar
radiation, and in the revelation of the presence of stellar X-ray radiation between 1946 and the early 1960s. By the latter period, however, the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA) began to eclipse NRL's pre-eminence in space science.
Herbert Friedman was born in 1916, received his Ph.D. in physics from Johns Hopkins University in 1940, and began working at the NRL a year later. After two years of using
X-ray radiation to detect manufacturing flaws, he was appointed head of the Electron Optics branch of the Rocketry Division. In 1958 Friedman took over the Space Science Division
until his retirement.
Edward T. Byram earned his degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Toledo before the war, during which he served in the U.S. Army for three years. He spent
two years at the Glenn L. Martin Aircraft Company and joined the NRL's Electron Optics branch in December, 1947. Between 1962 and 1972 he contributed to 54 papers on X-ray
astronomy.
Talbot A. Chubb was born in 1923 and took the B.A. in physics that he received from Princeton University to the Clinton Engineer Works in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, in 1944.
His doctoral advisor in physics at the University of North Carolina referred him to the NRL in 1950. Chubb headed the Lab's Upper Air Physics branch from 1959 to 1981.
Robert Kreplin spent the summers of 1948 and 1949 at the NRL while finishing his B.A. in physics at Dartmouth University. After receiving his M.A. in 1952, Kreplin returned
to the NRL permanently.
Charles Y. Johnson was born in 1920 and received his B.E.E. from the University of Virginia in 1942. After serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II he joined the Cosmic
Ray Section of the NRL. He headed the Air and Ion Composition Section from 1954 to 1958 and the Aeronomy Section until his retirement.
Julian C. Holmes was born in 1930 and received his A.B. in physics from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, in 1951. He joined Johnson at the NRL in 1956 as a Physicist.
