Guide to the Oscar Buneman Papers

Daniel Hartwig

Stanford University. Libraries. Department of Special Collections and University Archives

Stanford, California

October 2010

Note

This encoded finding aid is compliant with Stanford EAD Best Practice Guidelines, Version 1.0.

Overview

Call Number: SC0450

Creator: Buneman, Oscar, 1913-

Title: Oscar Buneman papers

Dates: 1913-1989

Bulk Dates: 1941-1989

Physical Description: 17 Linear feet

Summary: Research notes, papers, reprints, correspondence, lectures, and class materials from his teaching career and research while at Stanford University, with some materials from the 1940s and 1950s relevant to his work on magnetrons. Subjects include plasma physics, fourier transformations, Cray computers, and poisson solvers. Papers also include films of computer simulations, tetrahedron models, and one file of personal documents.

Language(s): The materials are in English.

Repository: Department of Special Collections and University Archives

Green Library

557 Escondido Mall

Stanford, CA 94305-6064

Email: specialcollections@stanford.edu

Phone: (650) 725-1022

URL: http://library.stanford.edu/spc

Administrative Information

Provenance

Gift of Ruth Buneman, 1993.

Information about Access

This collection is open for research.

Ownership & Copyright

All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, California 94304-6064. Consent is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner, heir(s) or assigns. See: http://library.stanford.edu/depts/spc/pubserv/permissions.html.

Restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research and educational purposes.

Cite As

Oscar Buneman Papers (SC0450). Department of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.

Biographical/Historical Sketch

Oscar Buneman, prominent scientist in the fields of plasma electrodynamics, fundamental electromagetic theory, and numerical anaylsis, was Professor of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University from 1960 until he reached emeritus status in 1984. While at Stanford he worked on laboratory applications of plasma phys ics to cross-field microwave devices , stability analysis, and other phenomena. He also developed, with a series of collaborators, a three-dimensional electromagnetic particle simulation code (TRISTAN) for Cray supercomputers.

Buneman, born in Italy in 1913 to German parents, was imprisoned by the Nazis for political resistance in 1934. Upon his release in 1935 , he went to Manchester University in England where he received his bachelor's , master's, and doctoral degrees in mathematics. He continued postdoctural work there on the magnetron. In 1944 he was a member of the British mission to the Manhattan project at Berkeley, Calfornia. From 1950 to 1960 he was a member of Peterhouse College, Cambridge.

Buneman died on January 24, 1993.

Description of the Collection

Research notes, papers, reprints, correspondence, lectures, and class materials from his teaching career and research while at Stanford University, with some materials from the 1940s and 1950s relevant to his work on magnetrons. Subjects include plasma physics, fourier transformations, Cray computers, and poisson solvers. Papers also include films of computer simulations, tetrahedron models, and one file of personal documents.

Access Terms

Buneman, Oscar, 1913-

Stanford University. Department of Electrical Engineering. Faculty.

Cray computers.

Fourier transformations.

Magnetrons.

Motion pictures

Plasma (Ionized gases).

Poisson's equation.

Papers

Box 1

Poisson solver notes

Box 1

Notes for London Conference, possibly on radiation of growing waves 1951

Box 1

Misc. notes on magnetron, including 1989 correspondence

Box 1

Papers on magnetron

Box 2

Magnetron lecture (with other materials) 1941

Box 2

Magnetron lecture notes , Santa Fe meeting 1981

Box 2

E- I Instability

Box 2

Notes for book on Continuum Electrodynamics , ca. 1962

Box 2

Relativity notes

Box 2

Continuum Electrodynamcis - manuscript

Box 3

Papers on magnetron

Box 3

Notes on FFT

Box 4

Notes on FFT (Fast Fourier Transform?)

Box 4

Notes on Hartley Transform

Box 4

J.C . Slater's report on magnetron oscillator 1941

Box 4

Diagnostic notes for Tristan; solar wind interaction for particles and fields

Box 5

Old Tristan code notes

Box 5

Notes on num. simulation of the Taylor-Green vortices 1978

Box 5

Checkboard proposal

Box 5

Personal papers (citizenship, marriage, etc.)

Box 6

Notes and reprints related to conference on history of scientific and numeric computing, 1987

Box 6

Notes on Fast Fourier and Fast Hartley Transforms

Box 6

Papers, print-outs, and correspondence

Box 7

Papers and notes on Fast Fourier and Fast Hartley Transforms

Box 7

CRAY programs, mover, etc.

Box 8

CRAY programs , mover, etc.

Box 9

CRAY programs, mover, etc.

Box 9

Reprints on Tetrahedral Interpolatic, Hamiltonian Gas Dymanics, Plasma Physics, etc.

Box 10

Reprints on plasma phys ics, poisson operators, computer simulations , crossed field devices, etc.

Box 11

Reprints on curved field, waves in plasma, plasma physics, magnetron theory, etc.

Box 12

Reprints on "Ribbon Bears", current-carrying plasma , air screw noise, etc.

Box 13

Reprints on self-evident electrodynamics, continuum electrodynamics, circulation, particle accelerators, etc.

Box 14

Misc. notes on radiation conditions, Poisson sol ver, errors and aliases due to interpolation of spectral

Box 14

Patent

Box 15

Misc. notes on radiation conditions, Poisson solver , errors and aliases due to interpolation of spectral data

Box 15

Notes on work with students and associates

Box 15

CAl

Box 15

Correspondence

Box 16

Notes on work with students and associates

Box 16

NSR proposal

Box 16

Starlab Seminar

Box 17, Folder 1

Maltsev

Box 17, Folder 2

Owen Storey Misc.

Box 17, Folder 3

CRAY Architecture and Assembl y Language

Box 17, Folder 4

Multiprocessors

Box 17, Folder 5

Global

Box 17, Folder 6

Scamp

Box 17, Folder 7

Relativistic Sheet Pinches with Current Shear

Box 18, Folder 1-12

EE 288

Box 18, Folder 13

Collision Free Plasma Theory

Box 18, Folder 14

Longitudinal Oscillations

Box 18, Folder 15

Effective Transport Coefficients

Box 18, Folder 16-23

EE 354

Box 18, Folder 24

Helicon/Whistler Excitation

Box 18, Folder 25

Introduction to Plasma Physics

Box 18, Folder 26

Introduction to Plasma Physics

Box 18, Folder 27

Problems and Solutions

Box 18, Folder 28

EE 354

Box 18, Folder 29-31

EE 286

Box 19, Folder 1

Final 1984

Box 19, Folder 2

EE 356, Midterms 1985

Box 19, Folder 3

Stress Tensor -Bennett

Box 19, Folder 4

Reson.2 dist. f'n

Box 19, Folder 5

Bernstein Disp. F'la

Box 19, Folder 6

Conductivities

Box 19, Folder 7

Whistler Signal Velocity

Box 19, Folder 8

Lower Hybrid Resonance

Box 19, Folder 9

Beam excitation of cyclotron resonance

Box 19, Folder 10

Self-consistent Mirror Configuration

Box 19, Folder 11

Problems relating to Chapter III

Box 19, Folder 12

Theta Pinch : earlier version

Box 19, Folder 13

Theta Pinch

Box 19, Folder 14

Piecewise Constant Field Mode l of Diode

Box 19, Folder 15

l-D Debye Cloud

Box 19, Folder 16

Landau Without Complex Numbers

Box 19, Folder 17

Fluctuation Material

Box 19, Folder 18

Plasma Magnetodynamis

Box 19, Folder 19

Part III -Dynamics

Box 20, Folder 1-5

Introduction to Plasma Physics

Box 20, Folder 6-24

EE 292B

Box 20, Folder 25

Miscellaneous

Box 20, Folder 26 -31

EE 271/272

Box 21, Folder 1

Computer Printout

Box 21, Folder 2-17

EE 288

Box 21, Folder 18

Effective Transport Coefficient

Box 21, Folder 19

Transconductance of Stratified Medium Stream analysis

Box 21, Folder 20

Split Orbits and Vascillating Orbits 1966 Aug

Box 22, Folder 1-5

EE 272: Final and Answer Sheet

Box , Folder 6-19

EE 342: Problem Sets, Finals, and Answers

Box 23, Folder 1-5

EE 141

Box 23, Folder 6-17

EE 181

Box 23, Folder 18

Random Numbers: Do-It-Yourself and Better

Box 24, Folder 1-9

EE 181

Box 24, Folder 10-18

CRAY Course

Box 25

UNICOS User Command Ready Reference SQ-2056 5.0

Box 25

A Programmers Introduction to the IBM System/360 . . .

Box 25

UNICOS Primer SG-20l0 C

Box 25

CRAY Computer Systems CFT77 Reference Manual

Box 25

NCAR UNICOS Primer

Box 26

Journal of Scientific Computing 1986

Box 26

Siam Review 1985 Dec - 1986 Sep

Box 26, Folder 1-16

EE 261

Box 27, Folder 1-32

EE 261

Box 28, Folder 1-12

EE 261

Box 28, Folder 13

Autumn 82/83 Engineering Survey

Box 28, Folder 14

Class List

Box 28, Folder 15

Miscellaneous

Box 28, Folder 16-21

EE 272

Box 29, Folder 1-11

EE 272

Box 29, Folder 12

EE 342

Box 29

Three (3) mailing Folders: "Radiation Course"

Box 30, Folder 1-6

EE 272

Box 30, Folder 7

EE 288

Box 30, Folder 8

Radiation Course Class Notes

Box 30, Folder 9

Einstein Article

Box 31

Tetrahedron models

Box 32

Films of computer simulations

Box 33

Computer Space Plasma Physics: Simulation Techniques and Software, edited by H. Matsumoto and Y. Omura; includes software disk

Box 33

Ruth Buneman, et.al ., "A Tribute to Oscar Buneman -Pioneer of Plasma Simulation," IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, Vol. 22, No. 1 (xerox copy) 1994 Feb

Box 34

Glass lantern slides of charts , tables, and equations

Box 35

Glass lantern slides of charts, tables , and equations

Box 35

Six photographs of geometric shapes

Box 35

Unidentified video tape