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Byers (Nina) papers
LSC.1898
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Contributing Institution:
UCLA Library Special Collections
Title: Nina Byers papers
Identifier/Call Number: LSC.1898
Physical Description:
2.4 Linear Feet
(6 boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1946-2006
Date (bulk): bulk 1965-2006
Abstract: Nina Byers was a theoretical physicist and professor in UCLA's Department of Physics and Astronomy. She joined UCLA in 1961
as an assistant professor, working on particle physics, CP-violation, and pion-nuclear charge-exchange scattering. Byers retired
in 1993. This collection consists of materials related to her teaching career, research and personal life. The papers include
materials related to courses she taught, seminar notes, research, anti-nuclear proliferation materials, professional and personal
correspondence, and photographs. Additionally included are materials related to the publication of her book
Out of the Shadows: Contributions of Twentieth-Century Women to Physics (2006).
Physical Location: Stored off-site. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located
on this page.
Language of Material: Materials are in English.
Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located
on this page.
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Property rights to the objects belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. All other rights, including copyright, are retained
by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue
the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
[Identification of item], Nina Byers papers (Collection 1898). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research
Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Morissa Landinsky Cohen; gift; 2014.
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Processed by Krystell Jimenez in the
Center for Primary Research and Training (CFPRT) under the supervision of Angel Diaz, 2017.
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UCLA Catalog Record ID:
9982861973606533
Nina Byers was a theoretical physicist and professor in UCLA's Department of Physics and Astronomy. She was born in January
19, 1930 in Los Angeles, CA, and graduated from UC Berkeley with a BA in physics in 1950. She received her PhD from the University
of Chicago in 1956. Byers did postdoctoral work at the University of Birmingham, England, followed by a research position
at Stanford University in 1958. She then began her teaching career at UCLA in 1961 as an assistant professor, working on particle
physics, CP-violation, and pion-nuclear charge-exchange scattering. Byers was the only female professor in UCLA's Physics
and Astronomy Department for more than 20 years.
Throughout the late 1960s and 1970s Byers split her time between teaching at UCLA and Oxford University. During this period,
Byers was politically active, participating in efforts to support affirmative action for women in the UC system and advocating
against nuclear proliferation. She supported awareness and education regarding the Holocaust. Byers also opposed the requirement
that university faculty take loyalty oaths, which led to her decision to work in England for some time in the late 1950s.
In the 1980s she was an active member of the American Physical Society. Retiring in 1993, Byers remained an active professor
emeritus. Her experience as a female physicist was central to her commitment to increase the representation of women in the
sciences, particularly physics. Her work to document the accomplishments of women in this field culminated in her book
Out of the Shadows: Contributions of Twentieth Century Women to Physics (2006). She also led an initiative to develop a website documenting women in the field of physics, Contributions to 20th
Century Women to Physics. Byers passed away on June 5, 2014.
This collection consists of materials related to the teaching career, research, and personal life of UCLA Physics Professor
Emerita Nina Byers. The papers includes materials related to courses she taught, lecture and seminar notes, research, anti-nuclear
proliferation materials, and a university study in which she participated. Additionally there is professional and personal
correspondence, and photographs, including letters regarding the 1965 Watts Riots, affirmative action for women in the UC
system, and loyalty oaths. Materials related to Byers' personal life and education include her physics qualifying exams, datebook,
curriculum vitae and biographical materials, and correspondence regarding her book
Out of the Shadows: Contributions of Twentieth Century Women to Physics (2006).
This collection has been arranged in the following series:
- Series 1: Academic files, 1968-2005
- Series 2: Correspondence and photographs, 1946-2006
- Series 3: Personal files, 1951-2005
Original order of materials has been maintained.
Contributions of 20th Century Women to Physics: Records of the UCLA Website (Collection 458) Available at UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Women physicists -- United States -- Archives.
University of California, Los Angeles. Department of Physics--Faculty -- Archives