Spencer R. Weart

Spencer R. Weart

Spencer R. Weart (born 1942) was the director of the Center for History of Physics of the American Institute of Physics (AIP) from 1971 until his retirement in 2009. Originally trained as a physicist, he is now a historian of science.^[1] He earned his B.A. in Physics at Cornell University in 1963 and a Ph.D. in Physics and Astrophysics at the University of Colorado, Boulder, in 1968.

He has produced numerous historical articles, two children’s science books, and written or co-edited eleven other books,^[2] including:

• Scientists in Power (1979). A history of the rise of nuclear science, weapons, and reactors in France. ISBN 0-674-79515-6
• Leo Szilard: His Version of the Facts (1978). Edited correspondence. ISBN 0-262-69070-5
• Nuclear Fear: A History of Images (1989) ISBN 0-674-62836-5
• Out of the Crystal Maze: Chapters from the History of Solid State Physics (1991). ISBN 0-19-505329-X
• Never at War: Why Democracies Will Not Fight One Another (1998). ISBN 0-300-08298-3
• The Discovery of Global Warming (2003, 2008). Online extended version. ISBN 0-674-03189-X
• The Rise of Nuclear Fear (2012). ISBN 978-0-674-05233-8

While at AIP he also produced and edited an award-winning website with historical exhibits.

References

1. American Institute of Physics' biographical note on Spencer Weart
2. Weart's list of publications

External links

• AIP list of Spencer Weart's publications
• History that Matters: Spencer Weart
• History of Physics website with exhibits edited by Spencer Weart
• Bright Idea: The First Lasers (laser history; text by Spencer Weart)