Descriptive Summary
Access
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Acquisition Information
Biography/Administrative History
Scope and Content of Collection
Indexing Terms
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Descriptive Summary
Title: Papers Of Norman Davidson
Dates: 1957-1975
Collection Number: 10046-MS
Creator/Collector:
Archives staff.
Extent: 6 linear feet
Repository:
California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, California 91125
Abstract: The papers include correspondence and files on publishing, research grants, professional organizations such as the American
Chemical Society and the National Academy of Sciences. The collection contains also files on the Caltech Institute of Technology
faculty committees, the Gates Chemical Laboratory, and the Chemistry Division fiscal matters and some material on L. Pauling
(specifically the K. Clark Pauling show) and miscellaneous personal material.
Language of Material: English
Access
The collection is open for research. Researchers must apply in writing for access.
Preferred Citation
Papers Of Norman Davidson. California Institute of Technology
Acquisition Information
The majority of the collection was donated to the Caltech Archives by Norman Davidson himself in 1974. Supplements to this
collection were donated by the Chemistry Division in 2000 and 2010.
Biography/Administrative History
Norman Davidson was born in 1916 in Chicago. He was a molecular biologist, whose groundbreaking work led to a better understanding
of the genetic blueprint of life.
Davidson joined the Caltech faculty as a chemistry instructor in 1946, and remained on the faculty for the rest of his life.
He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences and in 1996 he was awarded the National Medal of Science from U.S. President
Bill Clinton. He died in Pasadena in 2002.
Scope and Content of Collection
Series 1, Correspondence, includes communications with both individuals and corporate bodies and is arranged in alphabetical
sequence.
Series 2, California Institute of Technology, includes important material relating to Davidson's involvement in the administration
of the Chemistry Division at the California Institute of Technology, and in his participation in many faculty committees of
the Institution. The supplement at the end of this series includes papers related to Linus Pauling and some personal papers.
Related Material: Oral history interview with Norman R. Davidson, Caltech Archives 1987. (http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechOH:OH_Davidson_N)
Indexing Terms
Chemistry
Molecular biology
Delbrück, Max
Pauling, Linus
Brown, Edmund
Additional collection guides