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Guide to the William Webster Hansen Papers

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Table of contents

Collection Contents

Series 1 Correspondence 1928-1949

Box 1, Folder 1

Correspondence 1928-1934

Box 1, Folder 2

Correspondence 1936, January-August

Box 1, Folder 3

Correspondence 1936, Sep-Dec

Box 1, Folder 4

Correspondence 1937, Jan-Apr

Box 1, Folder 5

Correspondence 1937, May-Oct

Box 1, Folder 6

Correspondence 1937, Nov-Dec

Box 1, Folder 7

Correspondence 1938, Jan-Apr

Box 1, Folder 8

Correspondence 1938, May-August

Box 1, Folder 9

Correspondence 1938, Sep-Dec, plus 1938, undated

Box 1, Folder 10

Correspondence 1939, Jan-Feb

Box 1, Folder 11

Correspondence 1939, Mar-May

Box 1, Folder 12

Correspondence 1939, June-July

Box 2, Folder 13

Correspondence 1939, Aug-Sep

Box 2, Folder 14

Correspondence 1939, Oct-Dec

Box 2, Folder 15

Correspondence 1940, Jan-Feb

Box 2, Folder 16

Correspondence 1940, Mar-Jul

Box 2, Folder 17

Correspondence 1940, Aug-Oct

Box 2, Folder 18

Correspondence 1940, Nov-Dec, also 1940 undated

Box 2, Folder 19

Correspondence 1941

Box 2, Folder 20

Correspondence 1942

Box 2, Folder 21

Correspondence 1943, 1944

Box 2, Folder 22

Correspondence 1945

Box 2, Folder 23

Correspondence 1946

Box 3, Folder 24

Correspondence 1947, Jan-Sep

Box 3, Folder 25

Correspondence 1947, Oct-Dec

Box 3, Folder 26

Correspondence 1948, Jan-May

Box 3, Folder 27

Correspondence 1948, Jun-Dec

Box 3, Folder 28

Correspondence 1949, Jan-May

Series 2 Biographical Materials

Box 3, Folder 29

Death of W.W. Hansen

Scope and Content Note

Contents of file include texts of eulogies; telegrams of condolence; obituary clippings; Memorial Resolution of the Stanford Academic Council; article on beryllium poisoning; published Biographical Memoir of William Webster Hansen, 1909-1949, by Felix Bloch, presented to the National Academy of Sciences, 1952; The Uncommon Man, 1951.

Box 3, Folder 30

Death of W.W. Hansen

Scope and Content Note

Contents of file include official documents, bills, receipts re. last illness and death of W.W. Hansen.

Box 3, Folder 31

David Locke Webster - Correspondence and notes relating to the estate of W.W. Hansen

Scope and Content Note

Contents of this file include numerous memos written by Dr. Webster "for the record" re. the Hansen "Papers"; correspondence re. disposition of certain of Hansen's effects, including notes for a book (see also folder 5-51 "Ruling Engine").

Box 3, Folder 32

Biographical material

Scope and Content Note

Contents of this file include Hansen's birth certificate; a mathematical problem he worked as a child; his Stanford transcripts; his thesis; an announcement of his marriage; and a personnel security questionnaire.

Box 3, Folder 33

Bibliographies; Lists of Activities

Scope and Content Note

Contents include Bibliography in Felix Bloch's Biographical Memoir of W.W. Hansen, and a statement of Hansen's (1937) listing his publications and activities at that time.

Box 3, Folder 34

National Research Fellowship application for (1933),

Scope and Content Note

Contents of file include several copies of application form filled out by W.W. Hansen, as well as copies of abstracts of scientific papers by Hansen, submitted with his application.

Series 3 The Klystron

The Klystron

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Box 4, Folder 35

The Klystron

Scope and Content Note

Contents include "Statement of William W. Hansen", n. d., typed, 48p., with typed comments by D.L. Webster, 4 p.; "The Klystron as a generator of very short waves", by W.W. Hansen, R.H. Varian, et al., 2 p., typed carbon copy, n. d.; "Causes of frequency variation in Klystron oscillators", by W.W. Hansen, R.H. Varian, et al., typed carbon copy, 12 p., n. d.

Box 4, Folder 36

Clippings re Varian Brothers

Box 4, Folder 37

Orders for the Klystron

Scope and Content Note

Includes invoices, checks, instruction manuals, and some correspondence re. Klystrons made in 1940 at Stanford and sold to Sperry Gyroscope Co.

Box 4, Folder 38

Popular accounts of its development

Scope and Content Note

Includes magazine articles; TV show script; Varian Associates, Inc. 25 year anniversary booklet. Also copy of typescript of Edward Ginzton's account, The $100 Idea., ca. 1974

Series 4 Stanford University 1942-1949

Physics Department

Box 4, Folder 39

Records, including announcements; class teaching assignments; some committee minutes; and copies of the departmental newsletter. 1945-1949,

Microwave Laboratory 1942-1948

Scope and Content Note

Folders 4-40 through 4-42 contain correspondence, chronologically arranged, re. the establishment of the Microwave Laboratory at Stanford (reorganized and renamed W.W. Hansen Laboratories of Physics in 1953), with some correspondence on the physics department. According to a memo written by Prof. D.L. Webster Dec. 19, 1949, and included in folder 4-40, Prof. Webster arranged this correspondence from the files of Prof. Hansen after the latter's death.

Box 4, Folder 40

Microwave Laboratory, correspondence on the origins of 1942-43

Box 4, Folder 41

Microwave Laboratory, correspondence on the origins of, 1944-Jun 1945

Box 4, Folder 42

Microwave Laboratory, correspondence on the origins of, July 1945-1948

Box 4, Folder 43

Microwave Laboratory - miscellaneous

Scope and Content Note

Includes "The Microwave Laboratory; a plan for the foundation of a laboratory at Stanford University"; Dec. 30, 1942; n.a.; typed carbon copy. Also newspaper clipping re. the lab.

Linear Electron Accelerator Project 1946-1948

Box 4, Folder 44

Report no. 1, mimeo copy, with D.L. Webster's comments (holograph) [1946],

Report no. 1, mimeo copy, with D.L. Webster's comments (holograph), [1946],

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Box 4, Folder 45

Reports nos. 2 and 3 [Report no. 4 is missing] Dec 18, 1946, and Jan 4, 1947

Box 4, Folder 46

Reports, nos. 5-9, (March 1947-July 1947)

Box 4, Folder 47

Reports, nos. 10, 11, 12 (1947-1948)

Box 4, Folder 48

Miscellaneous

Scope and Content Note

Contents include some correspondence; clippings; draft sketch of floor plan; "Proposed billion volt accelerator, rough draft", typed carbon copy, n.a., n.d.; "Proposal for the production of super energy electrons", n.a., n.d.; "Survey of possible experiments with linear electron accelerators", by Leonard Schiff, Nov. 1949, report no. 102.

Series 5 Notes, Publications, and Other Papers 1932-1949

Box 4, Folder 49

"Notes re. E and M, 1932"

Scope and Content Note

Research notes of W.W. Hansen and D.L. Webster.

Box 4, Folder 50

Sparrows Point - Manx Fisher Collision at Sea, 1947

Scope and Content Note

Two-boat collision at sea caused by radar failure. W.W. Hansen retained as consultant expert. Folder contains research notes, correspondence, etc. re. the case.

Box 5, Folder 51

The Ruling Engine

Scope and Content Note

W.W. Hansen's notes and other material on a design for a ruling engine. This project was not completed before his death. The folder includes correspondence, post 1949, between D.L. Webster and various individuals interested in Hansen's designs.

Box 5, Folder 52

Antenna Research

Scope and Content Note

"Proposed program, slot antenna research", typescript, n.d.; "Miniature slot antennas", typescript, n.d.; article by Virgil A. Countir.

Box 5, Folder 53

Publications, misc. -- pre-1940

Box 5, Folder 54

Publications, misc. -- 1941-1949

Box 5, Folder 55

Miscellaneous notes and Unpublished Manuscripts

Box 5, Folder 56

Miscellaneous graphs

Box 5, Folder 57

Patents

Scope and Content Note

Folder includes copies of actual patents plus correspondence re. them.

Box 5, Folder 58

Personal Finances

Scope and Content Note

Folder includes income tax information, life insurance payments, lists of stocks, etc.

Box 5, Folder 59

Miscellaneous

Box 6

Apparatus

Scope and Content Note

Diaphragms made for Hansen's accelerator in 1946 or 1947; Tophet A (nickel chrome); Klystron grids; 2 strips 35 mm. microfilm (notebooks of W.W. Hansen?).

Box 6, Folder 60

Photographs

Box 7

Scrapbook

Scope and Content Note

Contains clippings, photos, and other memorabilia, a few items of correspondence (most were removed). Scrapbook evidently kept by W.W. Hansen's mother.

Box 8

Scrapbook

Scope and Content Note

Contains primarily photos and reprints. Probably kept by W.W. Hansen's mother.

Box 9

Page, Leigh, Introduction to Theoretical Physics, D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc., 1928; with Hansen’s bookplate 1928

Collection Contents

Correspondence

Biographical Materials

The Klystron

Stanford University

Notes, Publications, and Other Papers