Francis Bitter papers

The Francis Bitter papers span the years from 1925 to 1967. Although not exhaustive, the Bitter papers provide a broad overview of the physicist's career. The bulk of the collection postdates 1934 when Bitter came to MIT. The largest series, his alphabetical subject files (Series 2), consists primarily of correspondence with colleagues, professional societies, and concerns that hired him as a consultant. The collection includes correspondence; reports; minutes; notes; research and patent data; blueprints, sketches, and drawings; course notes; and reprints and other printed material. These papers are from Bitter's office files, and most of his file labels remain intact.

The collection also includes material that does not relate to MIT. His research files (Series 4) contain six student notebooks from his days at Columbia and the University of Berlin. One notebook (in the same volume as a 1952-1962 diary) contains notes on electromagnetic experiments that Bitter conducted in Berlin, prior to his graduate thesis work.

Bitter's time at Westinghouse is documented in the collection. Some of his work was patented and the applications, descriptions, and other technical data are in Series 2A. During his Guggenheim fellowship at the Cavendish Laboratories in Cambridge, England, Bitter wrote to T. D. Yensen and L. W. Chubb of Westinghouse about his investigations. Some of these technical letters concern ferromagnetism and show the evolution of Bitter's book on the subject.

Throughout his career Bitter often served as a consultant and his files document these outside activities. Bitter continued advising Westinghouse and there are minutes from their Magnet Division meetings in Series 2A. The technical letters from this consulting job concern tests Bitter made for Westinghouse at MIT on magnetic alloys, Hipersil development, and grain orientation. There is material from other consulting jobs, including Arthur D. Little and Sylvania (Series 2B). One of Bitter's notebooks (Series 5) is a diary of hours spent on various projects. After he became a reserve officer, Bitter worked with the Navy's Electricity and Magnetism Division and he served on their Ferromagnetic Committee. One of Bitter's most important consulting jobs began in 1963, when he started working at the Los Alamos Laboratories on an Atomic Energy Commission Project. His correspondence with Clarence Max Fowler and other scientists on the project is extensive. His files also include working notes and drawings about their work on megagauss field magnets.

While at Westinghouse, Karl Taylor Compton and Vannevar Bush frequently contacted Bitter in order to arrange his appointment at MIT. This correspondence (Series 2A) includes a discussion of Bitter's plans for magnet research at MIT. Bitter's early correspondence with colleagues includes Nicolas Rashevsky, E. U. Condon, Karl Darrow, Felix Bloch, F. A. Fowler, John D. Cockcroft, and Fritz Zwicky.

When he arrived at MIT, Bitter implemented many of his research plans and formed new ones. He was instrumental in establishing MIT's first magnet laboratory in 1938. The successful and unsuccessful grant requests in the collection (Series 2A) show some of Bitter's ideas about water-cooled magnets. The files contain reports to Compton and Bush on the importance of developing high magnetic fields to study metals. The correspondence also documents the establishment at MIT of a 2300 Volt Electrical Power Station for the first magnet laboratory and the Wright Brothers Wind Tunnel. The engineering firm of Jackson and Moreland helped to design Bitter's water-cooled magnets, and their correspondence includes equipment information, blueprints, and sketches. Bitter's research files (Series 4) contain notes and notebooks dealing with both the laboratory and the development of the lab's early magnets.

After World War II Bitter returned to MIT to continue his work with magnets. He reestablished a magnet laboratory and began work on nuclear magnet resonance. His correspondence, which includes graphs, blueprints, and reports, about the magnet's design is from Arthur D. Little and Allis and Chalmers Manufacturing Company (Series 2B). By 1947 MIT contracted with the firm of Jackson and Moreland to construct a new magnet laboratory. Some of Bitter's notebooks (Series 4) deal specifically with his magnetic resonance investigations.

Eventually, Bitter's work with electromagnets resulted in an association with the Research Laboratory of Electronics (RLE). The collection contains notebooks (Series 3) and Bitter's progress reports (Series 2) about RLE. In 1958 Bitter proposed that MIT build a High Field Magnet Laboratory. His proposal, budgets, blueprints, and progress records are in Series 2B. Again, Jackson and Moreland served as the engineers.

In 1960 the Air Force provided funds for a National Magnet Laboratory (NML) at MIT. Bitter's close association with the development and progress of the NML is shown through his extensive correspondence about the lab. The records include construction plans; dedication material; and memos, reports, and correspondence after the facility was in operation. The correspondence is from non-MIT colleagues as well as from the NML staff, including the director, Benjamin Lax.

Some of Bitter's manuscripts of articles and books are in Series 6, along with most of his reprints. Series 2B contains correspondence about his talks and the publishing of his books. This section also includes some speech manuscripts. Throughout his career Bitter saved his colleagues' reprints about magnets for reference; this file is in Series 6. Often there is correspondence with the same colleagues (2B); examples are M. Alfred Kastler, P. C. Brot, Dirk de Klerk, and Jean Brossel.

Bitter's interest in MIT students and in pedagogy in general is extensively documented in this collection. Series 3 contains course notes emanating from Bitter's research work. The numerous files from former students (2B) show that Bitter maintained contact with them, especially the graduate students. Unfortunately, there is little material from Bitter's position as assistant dean of science, other than his correspondence about doctoral candidates. From the years Bitter spent as master of MIT's Graduate House, there is correspondence directed to both the administration and the students.

Bitter's concern with education was never limited to MIT. He belonged to the Visiting Scientist program for the American Institute of Physics and for the American Association of Physics Teachers; the Advisory Board of Education for the National Research Council; the Committee on the Role of Science in American Liberal Education; and the Massachusetts Advisory Committee on Science and Mathematics. Ginn and Company used him as a consulting editor for their physics books. There are correspondence, minutes, and reports concerning all of these activities in Series 2B.

Two of Bitter's books are for high school students. Magnets andMathematical Aspects of Physics were published by Educational Services Incorporated (ESI) for their Physical Science Study Committee (PSSC) program. There are also reports, agendas, and correspondence from Bitter's attendance at ESI's College Physics Contents Conference.