Archive of correspondence between Wigner and historian of physics Jagdish Mehra

Wigner, Eugene Paul

Publication Date: 1972

About this Item

Wigner, Eugene Paul (1902-95). Archive of correspondence between Wigner and historian of physics Jagdish Mehra (1931-2008). 75 letters and other pieces, comprising ca. 135 pages. Oct. 14, 1969 Aug. 31, 1989. Archive includes original autograph and typed letters signed, carbon typescripts and a few photocopies. Very good. Complete calendar of archive available on request. A large group of correspondence between Nobel laureate Eugene Wigner, who received a share of the 1963 Nobel Prize in physics for his discovery and application of fundamental principles of symmetry to the theory of atomic nuclei particles, and historian of physics Jagdish Mehra, editor of Wigner s Philosophical Reflections and Syntheses (1995) and The Collected Works of Eugene Paul Wigner (1993), and author of The Historical Development of Quantum Theory (1982-2002) and many other works. The correspondence includes 44 typed or autograph letters / notes signed from Wigner to Mehra, plus carbons of Mehra s responses, a few of Mehra s drafts of letters to Wigner, and related material. The letters deal primarily with the organization of scientific conferences; several are devoted to the symposium "The Physicist s Conception of Nature," held in Trieste in 1972 in honor of Paul Dirac s 70th birthday, which Mehra organized and Wigner co-chaired. Other letters touch on Wigner s retirement in 1971 and Mehra s proposal to edit Wigner s collected papers. Also included in the archive is an undated autograph document in Wigner s hand, headed "Classical expression for Helmholtz function." The Hungarian-born Wigner was a key player in the development of quantum and nuclear physics. He introduced the idea of parity as a conserved property of nuclear reactions (1927); developed (with his friend John von Neumann) the theory of energy levels in atoms on the basis of group theory (1928-32); devised the "Wigner function" of momenta and coordinates (1932), which has become a major tool in the study of quantum chaos; provided (with his student Frederick Seitz) a basis for solid state physics in their method of treating electron wave functions in a solid (1933); and worked out with Gregory Breit the "Breit-Wigner" formula (1936) explaining neutron absorption by a compound nucleus. He also played an important role in the United States development of the atomic bomb and nuclear reactors, working on the Manhattan Project during World War II and serving as director of the AEC Laboratory at Oak Ridge in 1946-47. .

Seller Inventory # 43473

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Archive of correspondence between Wigner and historian of physics Jagdish Mehra
• Publication Date: 1972
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)