Finding Aid for the Nina Byers papers, 1946-2006 LSC.1898
Finding aid prepared by Krystell Jimenez, 2017.
UCLA Library Special Collections
Online finding aid last updated 17 November 2017.
Room A1713, Charles E. Young Research Library
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575
Business Number: 310-825-4988
Fax Number: 310-206-1864
spec-coll@library.ucla.edu
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.
Conditions Governing Access
Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located
on this page.
Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use
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.
Preferred Citation
[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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UCLA Catalog Record ID
Biography/History
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.
Scope and Content
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).
Organization and Arrangement
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.
Related Material
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Women physicists -- United States -- Archives.
University of California, Los Angeles. Department of Physics--Faculty -- Archives
Series 1: Academic files
1968-2005
Scope and Content
The series includes materials related to Byers' activities as a professor at UCLA, including instructional materials for physics
and gender studies courses, lecture notes for a talk on the Holocaust, course outlines, exams and problem sets, anti-war and
anti-nuclear materials, and a university study in which she participated.
box 1, folder 1-3
Courses: Physics C185
2001
box 1, folder 4
Courses: Physics C185
1995-1998
box 1, folder 5
Courses: Physics 226B and 226C
1984
box 1, folder 6
Courses: Physics 226A
1981-1982
box 2, folder 1
Courses: Physics 226A and 226B
1977-1981
box 2, folder 2
Courses: Physics 224
1977
box 2, folder 3
Proton decay notes and research
1978-1981
box 2, folder 4
Courses: Women's Studies M135/History M198G
1996-1997
box 2, folder 5
Holocaust lecture and notes
1997-2005
box 2, folder 6
Course materials and notes
circa 2002
box 2, folder 7
Exams and course materials
1972-1980
box 2, folder 8
Oxford course materials
1969-1973
box 3, folder 1
Seminars and lectures
1969-2005
box 3, folder 2
Papers and articles
1958-2003
box 3, folder 3
Gender studies materials
1995-2003
box 3, folder 4
History of science materials
1994-1996
box 3, folder 5
Anti-nuclear materials
1981-2004
box 3, folder 6
Contributions of 20th Century Women to Physics (CWP)
2000-2003
box 3, folder 7
American Physical Society
1995-2003
box 3, folder 8
Forum on History of Physics
1982-2004
box 4, folder 2
University Transition Study
1997
Series 2: Correspondence and photographs
1946-2006
Scope and Content
The series includes professional and personal correspondence and photos, including letters discussing the Watts Riots in 1965,
affirmative action in regards to women in the UC system, and correspondence with a potential employer from 1955-1956 regarding
her refusal to take a loyalty oath. Photographs are personal snapshots with unidentified persons and dates are limited to
1946-1958 and 1991-2006. This series is arranged chronologically.
box 4, folder 3
Correspondence and photographs
1946-1956
box 4, folder 4-6
Correspondence and photographs
1948-1958
box 4, folder 7
Correspondence: Loyalty oath
1955-1956
box 5, folder 2
Correspondence: Watts Riots
1965
box 5, folder 5
Correspondence: Association of Academic Women (AAW)
1974-1976
box 5, folder 9
Correspondence with Xavier Carelse
1991-1993
box 5, folder 10-11
Correspondence and photographs
1991-1999
box 6, folder 1
Correspondence and photographs
2000-2006
Series 3: Personal files
1951-2005
Scope and Content
The series includes subject material reflecting Byers' personal life, including her physics qualifying exams as a student,
datebooks, curriculum vitae, biographical materials, research on Austrian-Swedish physicist Lisa Meitner, correspondence regarding
the great-granddaughter of Peter Carl, Fabergé, Tatiana Fabergé, and research, notes and correspondence related to her book
Out of the Shadows: Contributions of Twentieth Century Women to Physics.
box 6, folder 2
Physics qualifying exams
circa 1951
box 6, folder 3
Calendar and personal documents
1967-1974
box 6, folder 4
Lisa Meitner notes
1994-1996
box 6, folder 5
Out of the Shadows book materials
1999-2005
box 6, folder 6
Curriculum vitae and biographical materials
undated
box 6, folder 8
Tatiana Fabergé
1992-1995
