Descriptive Summary
Administrative Information
Biography
Scope and Content
Indexing Terms
Descriptive Summary
Title: Theodore David Holstein Papers,
Date (inclusive): 1940-1990, bulk 1965-1986
Collection number: 387
Creator: Holstein, Theodore David, 1915-1985
Extent:
9 cartons (9 linear ft.)
Repository:
University of California, Los Angeles. Library. Department of Special Collections.
Los Angeles, California 90095-1575
Abstract: Theodore David Holstein (1915-1986) was a physicist who worked on atomic physics at Westinghouse Research Laboratories (1941-1959),
and served on the physics faculty at the University of Pittsburgh (1959-65) and at UCLA where he studied electron and energy
transport phenomena in solids. The collection consists of Holstein's manuscripts, lectures, publications, grant applications,
subject files, class lecture notes and examination, laboratory notebooks, and committee notes and memoranda. Subject files
in the collection pertain to electron transport phenomena in solids.
Physical location: Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact the UCLA Library, Department
of Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
Language:
English.
Administrative Information
Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library, Department of Special Collections. Literary 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.
Restrictions on Access
Portions of this collection are restricted. Student files, confidential departmental records, and personnel records (in sealed
envelopes in box 9) are closed until 2051, 2054, and 2060 A.D., respectively.
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Advance notice required for access.
Additional Physical Form Available
A copy of the original version of this online finding aid is available at the UCLA Department of Special Collections for in-house
consultation and may be obtained for a fee. Please contact:
- Public Services Division
- UCLA Library, Department of Special Collections
- Room A1713, Charles E. Young Research Library
- Box 951575
- Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575
- Telephone: 310/825-4988 (10:00 a.m. - 4:45 p.m., Pacific
Time)
- Email: spec-coll@library.ucla.edu
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Gift of Beverlee R. Holstein, 1987 & 1993.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Theodore David Holstein Papers (Collection 387). Department of Special Collections, Charles E. Young
Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
UCLA Catalog Record ID
Biography
Holstein was born on September 18, 1915 in New York City; BS, New York University (1935); MS, Columbia University (1936);
Ph.D, New York University (1940); worked on atomic physics at Westinghouse Research Laboratories in East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
(1941-59); in mid-1950s began increasing study of solid state physics, publishing papers on the optical and galvanomagnetic
properties of metals and the first of his polaron papers; served on physics faculty at the University of Pittsburgh (1959-65),
then became professor of physics at UCLA in 1965; from 1960 until his death, he studied electron and energy transport phenomena
in solids; he died in 1986.
Biographical Narrative
Theodore Holstein, professor of physics, was born September 18, 1915. He earned a B.S. degree from New York University in
1935, an M.S. at Columbia University in 1936, and his Ph.D. at New York University in 1940. Holstein worked nearly two decades
(1941-1959) at Westinghouse Research Laboratories (East Pittsburgh, Pa.), where he concentrated on atomic physics. Beginning
in the mid-1950s Holstein increasingly devoted himself to solid-state physics (which had commenced in 1940 with the Holstein-Primakoff
paper on the
microscopic theory of magnetization, which initiated spin-wave theory), publishing papers on the optical and galvanomagnetic
properties of metals and the first of his polaron papers. Holstein served on the faculty at the University of Pittsburgh (1959-1965),
then became Professor of Physics at UCLA in 1965. Although he continued his research in atomic physics, Holstein's efforts
from about 1960 until his death were primarily directed toward electron and energy transport phenomena in solids. He died
shortly before his 71st birthday, in 1986.
Scope and Content
Collection consists of manuscripts, lectures, publications, grant applications, subject files, class lecture notes and examination,
and committee notes and memoranda of UCLA physics professor Theodore David Holstein. Subject files pertain to electron transport
phenomena in solids. Also includes the laboratory notebook Holstein kept at the Westinghouse Research Laboratories (East Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania), where he concentrated on atomic physics.
Expanded Scope and Content
The papers of Theodore Holstein span the years 1940-1990; the bulk of the material covers the period he spent at UCLA, from
1965-1986.
Much of the collection consists of manuscripts, lectures, publications, grant applications and subject files pertaining to
electron transport phenomena in solids, including self-trapping, polaron motion, hopping transport and transport in metals
(1940-1988). One highlight of this material is the laboratory notebook Holstein kept at the Westinghouse Research Labs (East
Pittsburgh, PA; between 1941 and 1959). Class lecture notes, examinations and problem sets for courses in quantum mechanics
and
statistical mechanics (1960s-1984) comprise a significant portion of Holstein's papers. His administrative duties in the UCLA
Department of Physics during the 1980s are sparsely represented by committee meeting notes and memoranda, inexplicably including
newsletters
and minutes from meetings for several years following his death. Lacunae include Holstein's own education (aside from an abridgment
of his Ph.D. thesis), correspondence other than that involving routine exchanges of papers, and documentation of his personal
life (aside from one photograph of his wife).
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Holstein, Theodore David 1915-1985--Archives.
University of California, Los Angeles--Dept. of Physics--Faculty--Archival resources.
Physicists--United States--Archival resources.