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Harold Lyons Atomic Clocks Collection,
1935-1991 |
Extent and Forms of Material: 2 cubic feet (6 boxes)
Creator: Harold Lyons
Abstract: Dr. Harold Lyons was a physicist whose primary interest
was in atomic frequency standards and atomic clocks. The collection documents
Dr. Lyons and his work with atomic clocks. The collection includes his research
as manifested in published papers, presentations, reports, correspondence, laboratory
notes, photographs and diagrams.
Repository: Archives Center, National Museum of American History,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; archivescenter@si.edu
; 202-633-3270; www.americanhistory.si.edu/archives
Collection Number: AC0701
Processing Note: Processed by Jeanne Sklar, intern, August
2001; supervised by Alison Oswald, archivist.
© 2007 by the Smithsonian Institution. All rights reserved.
Information for users of
the collection
Conditions Governing Access: The collection
is open for research use.
Physical Access: Researchers must handle unprotected
photographs with gloves. Researchers must use reference copies
of audio-visual materials. When no reference copy exists, the
Archives Center staff will produce reference copies on an “as
needed” basis, as resources allow.
Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use: Copyright
held by the Smithsonian Institution. Collection items available
for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees
concerning copyright restrictions. Reproduction permission from
Archives Center: fees for commercial use.
Preferred Citation: [Title and date of item],
Harold Lyons Atomic Clocks Collection, Archives Center, National
Museum of American History, box number X, folder number XX, digital
file number XXXXXXXX
In-depth information about the collection
Administrative/biographical history
Scope and content
System of arrangement
Acquisition information
Related archival materials
Related artifacts
Access points
Container listing
Harold Lyons was born February 16, 1913 in Buffalo, New York,
and attended the University of Buffalo, graduating summa cum laude
with a B.S. in Physics in 1933. After obtaining a Ph.D. in Nuclear
Physics from the University of Michigan in 1939, he worked at
the Naval Research Laboratories for two years and then joined
the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) in 1941. In 1944, he was
appointed chief of the Microwave Standards Section of an Interservice
Radio Propagation Laboratory (IRPL) established at the NBS during
World War II. He continued in that position after the war when
the IRPL, in 1946, was reconstituted as the Central Radio Propagation
Laboratory (CRPL).
Lyons’s work on microwave frequency standards led directly
to his interest in atomic frequency standards and atomic clocks.
On his initiative a substantial program of research and development
was pursued in the Microwave Standards Section from 1948-1951.
There under his direction the first operative atomic clock, based
on the absorption of microwaves of ammonia, was constructed in
1948 and announced in early 1949.
Lyons remained with the CRPL after it was moved to Boulder,
Colorado, in 1954, but left a year later to work in Hughes Aircraft
Company’s Culver City, California, research labs. Here he
continued his atomic physics research, particularly applications
for the atomic clock, including satellite technology, and expanding
to development work in lasers. He continued his work on lasers
at Electro-Optical Systems Quantum Physics Division from 1960-1962.
In the late 1960s and during the 1970s, he was an independent
physics consultant and conducted research through an association
with the University of California, Los Angeles.
Harold Lyons died March 23, 1998 in Los Angeles, California.
The Harold Lyons Papers, 1935-1991, show his professional interests,
especially his research from the 1950s, as manifested in published
papers, presentations, reports, correspondence, laboratory results,
and photographs. The bulk of the collection consists of papers
and presentations of Lyons and others in the atomic physics field.
Most of Lyons’s work and the materials he collected address
different aspects of microwave frequency.
Formats represented in the collection include published articles,
typewritten and handwritten manuscripts, typewritten and handwritten
personal correspondence, memorandums, photographs, diagrams, laboratory
results, pamphlets, and newspaper clippings. The collection is
arranged into five series.
Series 1, Biographical Information,
1955-1965; 1973, contains copies of Lyons’s curriculum
vitae (circa 1955, 1962, and 1971) and his entries in Who’s
Who in America and Who’s Who in The West.
This series also has two folders with materials relating to two
honors he received, the Franklin Institute Certificate of Merit,
in 1958, and the U.S. Department of Commerce’s 25th Commemorative
Award in 1973.
Series 2, Papers and Presentations, 1947-1962; 1973-1974,
contains the journal articles and papers authored by Lyons and
the conference and special presentations he gave during his career,
most of which address research for aspects of the atomic clock.
Included are papers he authored published in the Journal of
Applied Physics, American Scholar, Scientific American, and
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences and presentations
given at the National Bureau of Standards for the anniversary
of the atomic clock.
Series 3, Correspondence, 1949-1991, contains
general correspondence for the years 1949-1966, 1978, 1987, and
1991, as well as correspondence with the following individuals:
Dirk Brouwer, Paul Forman, Polykarp Kusch, Koichi Shimoda, Wilbert
F. Snyder, Charles H. Townes, and Jerrold R. Zacharias. The bulk
of this series is incoming correspondence addressed to Lyons,
although he did retain some copies of outgoing correspondence.
Series 4, Research, 1947-1958; 1970-1991, contains
laboratory results for deuterated ammonia (via strip chart recordings)
and general cesium atomic beam experiments through calibration
of magnetic fields, calculation of c-fields in the magnetic chamber,
and atomic beam measurements. It also contains brief information
on other research interests, such as the International Scientific
Radio Union, and scattered promotional materials for natural health
and electrical products. In addition, this series contains a copy
of the patent granted to Lyons and Benjamin F. Husten in 1955
for the atomic clock and photographs and diagrams relating to
Lyons’s work on the atomic clock. Included are black and
white photographs of Lyons and his colleagues with views of the
clock as well as diagrams and charts included in published and
unpublished work and presentations. Most of the photographs and
diagrams are undated and unlabeled.
Series 5, Collected Background Research Materials, 1935-1982,
contains papers and presentation materials focused on atomic physics,
including papers published in journals, memoranda, technical reports,
conference programs, and conference proceedings. One folder in
this series has materials relating to the promotion of the atomic
clock through pamphlets, speeches, papers, and one oversize item
of reproduced newspaper clippings. A folder relating to a university
course of lectures, most likely authored by Polykarp Kusch of
Columbia University, on molecular beams is also included in this
series. In addition, this series contains copies of two patents,
one granted to Friedrich H. Reder in 1960 for molecular resonance
devices, and the other, an Australian patent, applied for in 1958,
for an invention dealing with a frequency selective method and
system.
The collection is arranged into five series.
- Series 1: Biographical Information, 1955-1965;
1973
- Series 2: Papers and Presentations, 1947-1962;
1973-1974
- Subseries 1, Publications, 1947-1948; 1950-1953; 1957; 1959-1960;
1962; undated
- Subseries 2, Presentations, 1946-1958; 1973-1974
- Series 3: Correspondence, 1949-1991
- Series 4: Research, 1947-1958; 1970-1991
- Subseries 1, Laboratory Findings, 1952-1954; undated
- Subseries 2, Other Research Interests, 1947-1957; 1970-1991
- Subseries 3, Photographs and Diagrams, 1957; undated
- Series 5: Collected Background Research
Materials, 1935-1982
-
-
This collection was donated to the Archives Center by Harold
Lyons’s daughter, Sherrie L. Lyons, in January, 2000.
Archives Center collection #547, The Atomic Clock Collection,
1955-1968, contains related archival materials, principally on
the development of the first commercial atomic clock, the Atomichron.
The Division of Information, Technology and Communication holds
the first operative atomic clock, constructed under Lyons’s
direction at the National Bureau of Standards in 1948.
Subjects/Topical:
Atomic clocks
Atomic absorption spectroscopy
Atomic frequency standards
Physics
Time—Systems and standards
Subjects/Names:
National Bureau of Standards
Form/Genre:
Articles
Correspondence—1940-2000
Diagrams
Laboratory notebooks
Patents
Photographs—1950-1960
Technical notes
| Box |
Folder |
|
| |
|
SERIES
1: BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION, 1955-1965; 1973 |
| 1 |
1 |
Curriculum Vitae and Biographical
Data, 1955-1965 |
| |
2 |
Franklin Institute Certificate
of Merit, 1958 |
| |
3 |
U.S. Department of Commerce 25th
Commemorative Award, 1973 |
| |
|
SERIES
2: PAPERS AND PRESENTATIONS, 1947-1962; 1973-1974 |
| |
|
Subseries 1, Publications,
1947-1948; 1950-1953; 1957; 1959-1960; 1962; undated |
| |
4 |
Cesium, Atomic Beam Frequency Standard,
undated |
| |
5 |
The Microwave Frequency Standard,
1947 |
| |
6 |
Microwave Frequency Measurements,
1948 |
| |
7 |
Microwave Frequency Dividers, 1950 |
| |
8 |
The Atomic Clock, A Universal Standard,
1950 |
| |
9 |
Microwave Measurement of the Dielectric
Properties of Gases, 1950-1951 |
| |
10 |
Spectral Lines as Frequency Standards,
1952 |
| |
11 |
Microwave Absorption Spectrum of
ND3, 1953 |
| |
12 |
Atomic Clocks, 1957 |
| |
13 |
The Amazing Maser, 1959; Maser,
Iraser, and Laser, 1960 |
| |
14 |
Molecular Beam Devices, 1962 |
| |
|
Subseries 2, Presentations,
1946-1958; 1973-1974 |
| |
15 |
Presentations, 1946-1958 |
| |
16 |
National Bureau of Standards, 1973 |
| |
17 |
National Bureau of Standards, 1974 |
| |
|
SERIES
3: CORRESPONDENCE, 1949-1991 |
| 2 |
1-2 |
General Correspondence, 1949-1991 |
| |
3 |
Dirk Brouwer, 1951-1955 |
| |
4-5 |
Paul Forman/Smithsonian, 1982-1985;
1990 |
| |
6 |
Polykarp Kusch, 1949-1956 |
| |
7 |
Koichi Shimoda, 1955-1957 |
| |
8-11 |
Wilbert F. Snyder, 1950-1966; 1978;
1987 |
| |
12 |
Charles H. Townes, 1954-1955 |
| |
13 |
Jerrold R. Zacharias, 1952-1953 |
| |
|
SERIES
4: RESEARCH, 1947-1958; 1970-1991 |
| |
|
Subseries 1, Laboratory
Findings, 1952-1954; undated |
| 3 |
1 |
Deuterated Ammonia, undated |
| |
2 |
Cesium Atomic Beams, undated |
| |
3 |
Magnetic Field Calibrations, undated;
1952-1954 |
| |
4 |
C-Field Calculation, undated; 1952 |
| |
5 |
Atomic Beam Measurements, undated;
1952 |
| |
|
Subseries 2, Other Research
Interests, 1947-1957; 1970-1991 |
| |
6 |
International Scientific Radio
Union, undated, 1947-1957; 1978 |
| |
7 |
Health and Product-Related, undated;
1970, 1981, 1990-1991 |
| 3 |
8 |
Miscellaneous Notes and Papers,
undated |
| |
9 |
Patent, 1958 |
| |
|
Subseries 3, Photographs
and Diagrams, 1957; undated |
| |
10 |
Photographs, undated |
| |
O/S Folder 1 |
Photographs, undated |
| 3 |
11 |
Diagrams, undated, 1957 |
| |
O/S Folder 1 |
Diagrams, undated |
| |
|
SERIES
5: COLLECTED BACKGROUND RESEARCH MATERIALS, 1935-1982 |
| 3 |
12-13 |
Publications and Papers, undated |
| 4 |
1 |
Publications and Papers, 1935-1953 |
| |
2-5 |
Publications and Papers, 1954-1959 |
| 5 |
1-3 |
Publications and Papers, 1959-1979 |
| |
O/S Folder 1 |
Atomic Clock Promotional Material,
1955 |
| 5 |
4 |
Atomic Clock Promotional Material,
undated |
| |
5 |
Presentations and Conference Materials,
1950-1982 |
| |
6 |
Molecular Beams Course, undated |
| |
7 |
Patents, 1958; 1960 |
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