Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword by Richard A. Meserve
- Preface
- 1 Establishment
- 2 Cruises and war
- 3 Expeditions
- 4 Measurements: magnetic and electric
- 5 The Fleming transition
- 6 The last cruise
- 7 The magnetic observatories and final land observations
- 8 The ionosphere
- 9 Collaboration and evaluation
- 10 The Tesla coil
- 11 The Van de Graaff accelerator
- 12 The nuclear force
- 13 Fission
- 14 Cosmic rays
- 15 The proximity fuze and the war effort
- 16 The Tuve transition
- 17 Postwar nuclear physics
- 18 The cyclotron
- 19 Biophysics
- 20 Explosion seismology
- 21 Isotope geology
- 22 Radio astronomy
- 23 Image tubes
- 24 Computers
- 25 Earthquake seismology
- 26 Strainmeters
- 27 The Bolton and Wetherill years
- 28 Astronomy
- 29 The solar system
- 30 Geochemistry
- 31 Island-arc volcanoes
- 32 Seismology revisited
- 33 Geochemistry and cosmochemistry
- 34 The Solomon transition
- 35 The support staff
- 36 Epilogue
- Notes
- Index
Foreword by Richard A. Meserve
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 January 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword by Richard A. Meserve
- Preface
- 1 Establishment
- 2 Cruises and war
- 3 Expeditions
- 4 Measurements: magnetic and electric
- 5 The Fleming transition
- 6 The last cruise
- 7 The magnetic observatories and final land observations
- 8 The ionosphere
- 9 Collaboration and evaluation
- 10 The Tesla coil
- 11 The Van de Graaff accelerator
- 12 The nuclear force
- 13 Fission
- 14 Cosmic rays
- 15 The proximity fuze and the war effort
- 16 The Tuve transition
- 17 Postwar nuclear physics
- 18 The cyclotron
- 19 Biophysics
- 20 Explosion seismology
- 21 Isotope geology
- 22 Radio astronomy
- 23 Image tubes
- 24 Computers
- 25 Earthquake seismology
- 26 Strainmeters
- 27 The Bolton and Wetherill years
- 28 Astronomy
- 29 The solar system
- 30 Geochemistry
- 31 Island-arc volcanoes
- 32 Seismology revisited
- 33 Geochemistry and cosmochemistry
- 34 The Solomon transition
- 35 The support staff
- 36 Epilogue
- Notes
- Index
Summary
In 1902 Andrew Carnegie, a steel magnate turned philanthropist, had a brilliant idea. Carnegie was prescient in recognizing the important role that science could play in the advancement of humankind. He also believed that the best science came by providing “exceptional” individuals with the resources they need in an environment that is free of needless constraints. He created the Carnegie Institution as a means to realize these understandings, directing the Institution to undertake “projects of broad scope that may lead to the discovery and utilization of new forces for the benefit of man.” Carnegie was confident that this unusual formula would succeed. And he was right.
For over a century, the Carnegie Institution has sponsored creative and often high-risk science. Some of the luminaries who were supported by the Institution over the years are well known. For example, Edwin Hubble, who made the astonishing discoveries that the universe is larger than just our galaxy and that it is expanding, was a Carnegie astronomer. Barbara McClintock, who discovered the existence of transposable genes, and Alfred Hershey, who proved that DNA holds the genetic code, both won Nobel Prizes for their work as Carnegie scientists. But many other innovative Carnegie researchers who are perhaps not so well known outside their fields of work have made significant advances.
Thus, as part of its centennial celebration, the Institution enlisted the help of many individuals who have contributed to the Institution's history to chronicle the achievements of the Institution's five major departments.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Centennial History of the Carnegie Institution of Washington , pp. vii - viiiPublisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005