The Birth of the Solid‐State Physics Community

JUL 01, 1988

When it seemed likely that APS would be fragmented into groups with special interests, a few thoughtful people were able to sway the balance in favor of unity; in the process, the solid‐state physics community was born.

DOI: 10.1063/1.881124

Spencer R. Weart

In 1930 solid‐state physics did not exist. The very term was unknown; nor was there any intellectual or social entity to which the term could have applied. Certainly there flourished a number of specialties—for example, the electron theory of metals—that would eventually fall within the field of solid‐state physics. However, there was no feeling that physicists who studied solids should be distinguished as a group from those who studied gas spectra, for instance, or nuclear reactions. Thirty years later the situation had entirely changed. The term “solid‐state physics” not only was familiar in 1960, but could be attached to a number of institutions: university chairs, journals, research groups and even buildings devoted entirely to the subject.

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More about the authors

Spencer R. Weart, American Institute of Physics.