GABOR, Professor Dennis (1900-1979)

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0098 B/GABOR
Held at	: Imperial College of Science Technology and Medicine   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/recordsandarchives ›
Full title	: GABOR, Professor Dennis (1900-1979)
Date(s)	: Created 1911-1985
Level of description	: Collection (fonds)
Extent	: 43 boxes
Name of creator(s)	: Gabor | Dennis | 1900-1979 | physicist

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Born, 1900, Hungary; studied mechanical engineering at Joseph Technical High School, Budapest, 1918-1921, and Electrical Engineering Department, Technische Hochschule, Berlin, 1921-1924; awarded Diplom-Arbeit, 1924; awarded PhD, 1927; Research associate, German Research Association for High Voltage Plants, 1926-1927; Research engineer, Siemens and Halske AG, Berlin-Siemensstadt, 1927-1933; Research engineer, British Thomson Houston Company, Rugby, 1934-1948; Reader in Electron Physics, Imperial College, 1948-1958; elected Fellow of the Royal Society, 1956; Professor of Applied Electron Physics, Imperial College, 1958-1967; Senior Research Fellow, Imperial College, 1967-1976; Professor Emeritus, Imperial College, 1967-1979; Staff Scientist, CBS Laboratories, Stamford, Connecticut, USA, 1967-1979; CBE, 1970; Nobel prize in Physics, 1971; inventor of holography; died, 1979.
Publications: Electron Optics ... A lecture (Reprinted from "Electronic Engineering.") [1943]; The Electron Microscope (Electronic Engineering, London, 1948, second edition); Electronic Inventions and their Impact on Civilization (Inaugural lecture as Professor of Applied Electronic Physics) Imperial College of Science and Technology (London, 1959); Inventing the Future (Secker & Warburg, London, 1963); The Mature Society (London, Secker and Warburg, 1972); The proper priorities of science and technology (Southampton, University of Southampton, 1972); scientific papers on electrical transients, gas discharges, electron dynamics, communication theory and physical optics.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers of Professor Dennis Gabor, 1911-1985, comprising biographical papers, 1961-1985, principally press cuttings, articles, obituaries;

early papers and family correspondence, 1911-1975, comprising diary, 1911; papers, including details of classes, examinations, and certificates relating to the Joseph Technical High School, Budapest, 1918-1922, the Berlin Technische Hochschule, Charlottenberg, 1921-1922; personal papers, notably permits, identity cards, certificates; papers relating to employment at British Thomson Houston Company, 1934-1948; correspondence with the Foreign Office, with Andre Gabor, 1945-1969; diplomas, 1943-1974; photographs and posters, 1904-1975, principally of the Gabor family, research apparatus, the 1971 Nobel prize winners;

research papers, 1933-1974, including correspondence, reports, drawings, comprising essays, 1936-1946; papers concerning plasma theory, 1933-1955; optical design, 1940-1963; electron microscope, 1943-1957; communication theory, electron optics, statistical physics, 1943-1954; stereoscopy, 1940-1961; diffraction microscopy, 1948-1952; interference microscopy, 1949-1974; information theory, 1951-1965; mathematical theory of freedom, 1951-1962; thermo-nuclear power project and plasma theory, 1958-1966; flat TV tube, 1938-1971; papers and correspondence relating to his books Inventing the Future and The Mature Society, 1959-1974; correspondence and papers relating to patents, 1933-1966;

papers relating to his work at Imperial College, 1948-1972, including National Research Development Corporation research grants, 1953-1972; appointment as Mullard Reader in electronics, 1948-1967; inaugural lecture, [1959], 1970-1979; correspondence with staff and students, 1949-1973, notably with Rectors, 1949-1973, Willis Jackson, Head of Electrical Engineering, 1960-1968; lecture notes, 1948-1962;

correspondence, photographs and papers relating to the Nobel Prize, 1971-1978; papers relating to Samuel Roslington Milner, including memoir, obituary, 1959, correspondence, 1944-1967, notably concerning the publication of Milner's book; papers relating to CBS Laboratories (a division of Columbia Broadcasting System), 1942-1975, comprising correspondence and papers relating to Gabor's consultancy, including correspondence with Peter Carl Goldmark, 1942-1972;

general correspondence, 1932-1975, principally concerning research interests, including with Max Born, 1942-1965; Patrick Maynard Stuart Blackett, 1956-1970; Cecil Reginald Burch, 1952-1975; Sir Charles Galton Darwin, 1944-1952; Morris Leopold Ernst, 1960-1972; Michael Edward Haine, 1943-1968; John Anthony Hardinge Giffard, 1949-1971; Sir Harold Hartley, 1959-1966; Arthur Koestler, 1946-1973; Sir Rudolf Ernst Peierls, 1945-1950; Michael Polanyi, 1953-1964; Sir Karl Raimund Popper, 1964-1972; John Boynton Priestley, 1957, 1964; Royal Society, 1958-1974; Sir Henry William Hugh Warren, 1943-1951; list of publications, printed articles and reviews, 1928-1974; tapes and slides, 1964-1972, comprising interviews, lectures, lecture slides.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English, French, German, Hungarian.

System of arrangement:

The papers have been arranged as far as possible according to Professor Gabor's filing system. General correspondence was organised according to language, and has been arranged into one sequence, listed alphabetically by correspondent.
The papers are listed in sections as follows; Biographical material; early papers, family correspondence; diplomas; photographs; scientific papers and books; patents, research contracts; Imperial College; Nobel prize; S R Milner; CBS Laboratories; general correspondence; publications; tapes, slides; miscellaneous.

Conditions governing access:

Researchers wishing to consult the Archives should first contact the College Archivist, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2AZ, for an appointment.

Conditions governing reproduction:

A photocopying service is available at the discretion of the Archivist. Photocopies are supplied for research use only. Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the Archivist.

Finding aids:

A catalogue is available in the reading room of the College Archives.

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

The papers were transferred from Professor Gabor's office in Imperial College to the College Archives in 1979, with the permission of Mrs Majorie Gabor. Family photographs and other items were added by Mr Andre Gabor (brother), and Nobel prize memorabilia was given by Mr David Kitchen, the nephew of Mrs M Gabor.

Allied Materials

Related material:

Correspondence with Lord Jackson, 1951-1969 (B/JACKSON) and correspondence with James Dwyer Mcgee, 1956-1972 (KPB/1/MCGEE), held at Imperial College.

National Register of Archives: Click here to view NRA record

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Sources: Who Was Who (A & C Black, 1981, volume VII ); British Library On-Line Publications Acess Catalogue 97; National Register of Archives. Compiled by Julie Tancell as part of the RSLP AIM25 project.

Rules or conventions:
General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal Place and Corporate Names 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
October 2000