During the mid- to late-1970s, the Center for the History of Physics of the American Institute of Physics sponsored an oral history project designed to provide a systematic survey of late 20th century astrophysics. Slightly adjusting the model provided by the successful Sources for the History of Quantum Physics, the History of Modern Astrophysics project slightly deemphasized detailed inquiry into early scientific work, while delving more deeply into personal and social matters. Like the Quantum Physics project, they also sought out and microfilmed significant bodies of records, particularly those for observatories, that were deemed to be "in danger, or in remote locations, or of exceptional value to a broad community of scholars."

The initial list of candidates for interviews was compiled based upon recommendations that emerged from a series of exploratory interviews with astrophysicists, supplemented by individuals who were frequently cited in review articles, who were the recipients of major astronomical prizes, or who were mentioned as significant contributors in the existing secondary literature. These were then ranked and submitted to an advisory panel of historians of astronomy to fill in any omissions. Given the limitations of such a large undertaking, the project organizers inevitably chose to emphasize certain fields at the expense of others. In particular, they limited the number of interviews with radio astronomers and solar system astrophysics because these subfields were covered under other projects, while they sought extensive coverage of a variety of subfields in cosmology. Approximately 25% of the interviews were with cosmologists and a slightly smaller number concerned astronomical spectroscopy. The selection of subjects for interviews was also biased geographically: over half of the subjects were born and educated in the United States, with Britain, the Netherlands, and Germany relatively well represented, but the Soviet Union notably underrepresented.

Ultimately, the project logged over 400 hours of interviews with over 100 astronomers, resulting in over 10,000 pages of edited transcripts. Following the standard procedures established at the AIP, the interviews were fully transcribed and edited against the tape by the interviewer before being sent to the astronomer for further editing and permissions. Several different interviewers were employed during the project, including interviewers who were not members of the AIP staff.

The History of Modern Astrophysics Collection is an important resource for the history of astrophysics in the latter half of the twentieth century. The collection is arranged in two series, the first consisting of transcripts of 52 interviews of 46 astrophysicists recorded between 1976 and 1979 by members of the Center for the History of Physics at the American Institute of Physics. The second series consists of 65 reels of microfilm of significant sets of correspondence for individual astrophysicists. The original oral history tape recordings are housed at AIP.

None.

Deposited by the American Institute of Physics through Spencer R. Weart, 1982 (accn. no. 1982-1024ms).

Cite as: History of Modern Astrophysics Collection, American Philosophical Society.

Recatalogued by rsc, 2003.

The HMA project is described in