The University of Chicago Library > The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center > Finding Aids > Guide to the Michael Danos Papers 1950-2003
© 2007 University of Chicago Library
| Title: | Danos, Michael. Papers |
|---|---|
| Dates: | 1950-2003 |
| Size: | 15.75 linear feet (29 boxes) |
| Repository: |
Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center |
| Abstract: | Michael Danos was a theoretical physicist who worked in photonuclear physics, relativistic heavy ions and x-ray imaging devices, and spent several years as a Visiting Scholar at the Enrico Fermi Institute. The Michael Danos Papers consist of 15.75 linear feet of correspondence, calendars, writings, notebooks, clippings, transparencies, conference materials, photographs, blueprints and diagrams, and computer disks. |
Series V (Boxes 20-28) contains restricted material. Much of this material contains legal correspondence, and is therefore restricted indefinitely. Box 28 contains computer disks in obsolescent formats; access requires staff review and possible reformatting.
The remainder of the collection is unrestricted and open for research.
When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: Danos, Michael. Papers [Box #, Folder #], Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library
Michael Danos was born in Latvia in 1922, the son of a Hungarian opera singer stranded in that country by the outbreak of World War I. He studied electrical engineering and physics in Riga, Latvia and Dresden, Germany, surviving the 1945 Allied firebombing of Dresden. After the conclusion of World War II he lived in a displaced persons camp in Hanover, and it was while living there that he completed his degrees in electrical engineering and physics.
After immigrating to the United States, Danos did post-doctoral research at Columbia University with Charles Townes, developer of the first laser, from 1952-1954. From 1954-1994 Danos worked for the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the National Bureau of Standards. During the 1950s and 1960s his research focused on photonuclear physics, a field in which it has been claimed he was the most cited author at the time of his death. In the 1970s and 1980s he altered his focus to work on relativistic heavy ions; his studies were important in the development of the heavy ion collider at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in Long Island, New York. By the 1990s, Danos had begun working on quantum computing, but also developed high-caliber x-ray imaging devices through his firm, Rayex Co. He also worked as a visiting scholar at the Enrico Fermi Institute of the University of Chicago.
Danos held eight patents in medical instrumentation and electronics, and was the author or co-author of 5 books and more than 160 articles. He also received numerous scientific awards and served as a visiting professor or scientist at 20 institutions in the United States, Europe, Russia and Australia.
The Michael Danos Papers have been divided into six series: Series I, Personal Materials; Series II, Research & Writing; Series III, Lectures and Conferences; Series IV, Reprints; Series V, Restricted Materials; and Series VI, Oversized Documents. A large portion of the material in the collection focuses on Danos’s research in quantum field theory.
Enrico Fermi Institute. Records
Series I: Personal Materials |
This series contains personal materials including personal and professional correspondence, annual date books, photographs, writings from Danos’s family members, and assorted memorabilia of professional achievement. Of particular interest is a large amount of writing (what Michael Danos titled "Musings") that outlines his personal thoughts on a wide variety of subjects in science and other fields. These writings are accompanied by an explanatory essay from his wife, Professor Sheila Fitzpatrick. Also included are notices on Michael Danos’s death.
| Box 1 Folder 1 | Correspondence, 1964-1972 |
| Box 1 Folder 2 | Correspondence, 1987-1999 |
| Box 1 Folder 3 | Correspondence about Fermi Institute appointments, 1980-1998 |
| Box 1 Folder 4 | Public correspondence, 1995-1997 |
| Box 1 Folder 5 | Theses for which Danos may have acted as outside reader, 1993-1997 |
| Box 1 Folder 6 | Two plays by Victoria Danos, 1990-1998 |
| Box 1 Folder 7 | Political correspondence and clippings, 1992 |
| Box 1 Folder 8 | Information on Santa Fe Schools Restructuring Program, 1989-1991 |
| Box 1 Folder 9 | Alexander von Humboldt Prize, 1972 |
| Box 1 Folder 10 | Sketches and transparencies, n.d. |
| Box 1 Folder 11 | Columbia University farewell, 1954 |
| Box 1 Folder 12 | Guggenheim Fellowship application, 1971 |
| Box 1 Folder 13 | Professional biographical information, ca. 1990 |
| Box 2 Folder 1 | Personal calendars, 1982-1987 |
| Box 2 Folder 2 | Personal calendars, 1988-1993 |
| Box 2 Folder 3 | Personal calendars, 1994-1999 |
| Box 2 Folder 4 | Personal photographs, 1959-ca. 1980s |
| Box 2 Folder 5 | Personal notes and correspondence, 1983-1989 |
| Box 2 Folder 6 | Sheila Fitzpatrick, index to "Science Musings," ca. 2002 |
| Box 2 Folder 7 | "Science Musings," 1992-1998 |
| Box 2 Folder 8 | Sheila Fitzpatrick, introductory note on "Musings," 2003 |
| Box 2 Folder 9 | Sheila Fitzpatrick, index of Michael Danos’s "Musings" and "Autobiographical Musings," including reflections on the development of Danos’s scientific ideas, ca. 2003 |
| Box 2 Folder 10 | "Musings" A-C, ca. 1990s |
| Box 3 Folder 1 | "Musings" D-G, ca. 1990s |
| Box 3 Folder 2 | "Musings" H-M, ca. 1990s |
| Box 3 Folder 3 | "Musings" N-R, ca. 1990s |
| Box 3 Folder 4 | "Musings" S-Z, ca. 1990s |
| Box 3 Folder 5 | Michael Danos, death notices, obituaries, 1999 |
| Box 3 Folder 6 | Material on memorials for Michael Danos, 1999-2000 |
Series II: Research and Writing |
This series contains three major types of material, the first of which is a grouping of handwritten scientific notes and calculations from Michael Danos, covering much of his scientific career (1960s-1990s). Also in this series are Danos’s own subject files, the largest of which is a series of clippings about cold fusion. Lastly, this series contains a significant amount of manuscript material, including early drafts and handwritten notes for many of his articles. Oversized materials (technical diagrams) have been removed and placed in Series VI.
| Box 4 Folder 1 | Notes and drafts, n.d. |
| Box 4 Folder 2 | Notebook, n.d. |
| Box 4 Folder 3 | Notebook, n.d. |
| Box 4 Folder 4 | Notebook, n.d. |
| Box 4 Folder 5 | Handwritten notes, n.d. |
| Box 4 Folder 6 | Notes, n.d. |
| Box 4 Folder 7 | Notes, calculations, maps, photocopies, n.d. |
| Box 4 Folder 8 | Notebook, December 27, 1969 - May 30, 1995 |
| Box 4 Folder 9 | Notebook, May 20, 1969 - May 10, 1991 |
| Box 5 Folder 1 | Notebook no. 1, November 9, 1971 - July 13, 1977 |
| Box 5 Folder 2 | Notebook no. 2, July 18, 1977 - April 24, 1989 |
| Box 5 Folder 3 | Notebook no. 3, May 6, 1989 - July 14, 1999 |
| Box 5 Folder 4 | Analog devices, diagrams of equipment, handwritten notes, ca. 1970s |
| Box 5 Folder 5 | Handwritten notes, 1977-1980 |
| Box 5 Folder 6 | Monte Carlo cascade calculation, Tomonaga-Schwinger equation of quantum field theory, notes and drafts, 1978 |
| Box 6 Folder 1 | Notes and code printout for MONTE computer program, 1982 |
| Box 6 Folder 2 | Handwritten drafts, ca. 1987 |
| Box 6 Folder 3 | Dissipation, published article and notes, 1995 |
| Box 6 Folder 4 | Computer-generated results, n.d. |
| Box 6 Folder 5 | Untitled diagrams, n.d. |
| Box 6 Folder 6 | Cold fusion, handwritten notes, ca. 1989 |
| Box 6 Folder 7 | Cold fusion, articles and clippings, papers, 1989-1990 |
| Box 7 Folder 1 | Cold fusion, articles and papers, 1989-1990 |
| Box 7 Folder 2 | Cold fusion, articles and clippings, 1989-1990 |
| Box 7 Folder 3 | Cold fusion, articles and reports, 1989-1993 |
| Box 7 Folder 4 | Cold fusion neutron transfer, articles and clippings, 1991-1992 |
| Box 7 Folder 5 | Article on high-tech research, n.d. |
| Box 7 Folder 6 | Analog devices and voltage amplifiers, diagrams, articles, patent information, 1974-1989 |
| Box 7 Folder 7 | Physics Today, Vol. 29, No. 7, July 1976 |
| Box 7 Folder 8 | National Bureau of Standards information on energy-related inventions, 1979 |
| Box 7 Folder 9 | Research notes, correspondence, articles, 1983-1989 |
| Box 7 Folder 10 | Topical Proceedings, Industrial Computerized Tomography, July 25-27, 1989 |
| Box 7 Folder 11 | Global warming, article, 1989 |
| Box 8 Folder 1 | Brochures, Annual Report, Southwest Research Institute, ca. 1990 |
| Box 8 Folder 2 | Cosmology, 1990 |
| Box 8 Folder 3 | Abstracts and notes, Anomalous Nuclear Effects in Deuterium/Solid Systems, Oct. 22-24, 1990 |
| Box 8 Folder 4 | Notes and report on greenhouse effect, 1990 |
| Box 8 Folder 5 | Quantum measurement, 1996 |
| Box 8 Folder 6 | Particle physics, papers and calculations, 1961-1990s |
| Box 8 Folder 7 | Muon catalyzed fusion, articles, 1986-1990 |
| Box 8 Folder 8 | Chaos theory, articles, 1990-1991 |
| Box 8 Folder 9 | Quantum physics, offprints and drafts of papers, notes, diagrams, 1972-1998 |
| Box 8 Folder 10 | Quantum physics, drafts, notes and offprints of papers, 1948-1997 |
| Box 8 Folder 11 | Quantum Physics, drafts of papers, notes, information on conferences, 1996-1998 |
| Box 9 Folder 1 | Quantum physics draft articles, ca. 1991 |
| Box 9 Folder 2 | "Dissipation in Quantum Physics," submission copy, preprint, article, 1993-1994 |
| Box 9 Folder 3 | "Towards a Mathematically Rigorous Formulation of Quantum Field Theory," drafts, calculations, diagrams, transparencies, 1990s |
| Box 9 Folder 4 | "Single Particles and Composite Systems in a mathematically Rigorous Formulation of Quantum Field Theory," n.d. |
| Box 9 Folder 5 | Quantum field theory, drafts, ca. 1990 |
| Box 9 Folder 6 | Quantum field theory, notes and drafts, n.d. |
| Box 9 Folder 7 | Quantum field theory typescript, n.d. |
| Box 9 Folder 8 | Quantum field theory, drafts and notes, n.d. |
| Box 10 Folder 1-2 | Q Fields, drafts, n.d. |
| Box 10 Folder 3 | Published letters to the editor, 1965-1982 |
| Box 10 Folder 4 | "Measurement in Quantum Physics," manuscripts, n.d. |
| Box 10 Folder 5 | Quark-gluon plasma, papers, manuscripts and drafts, 1982-1984 |
| Box 10 Folder 6 | Manuscripts of papers by Danos and others,1979-1996 |
| Box 10 Folder 7 | "Directional Distribution of Reaction Products," draft, January 26, 1995 |
| Box 10 Folder 8 | "Dissipation, Entropy, Quantum Physics," transparencies, correspondence, diagrams 1997 |
| Box 11 Folder 1-2 | QCD, typescripts of papers and correspondence, ca. 1990s |
| Box 11 Folder 3 | "Giant Dipole Resonance and the Evolution of Concepts of Nuclear Dynamics," drafts, notes, transparencies, n.d. |
| Box 11 Folder 4 | Danos and Tien D. Kieu, "Measurement in Quantum Physics," drafts, transparencies, ca. 1990 |
| Box 11 Folder 5 | Articles, notes, drafts, transparencies, 1990s |
| Box 11 Folder 6 | Piezonuclear fusion, non-destructive inspection, drafts of papers ca. 1989 |
| Box 12 Folder 1 | Lagrangian Theory, drafts and article, ca. 1981 |
| Box 12 Folder 2 | Danos and Ugo Fano, "Graphical Analysis of Angular Momentum for Collision Products," drafts, notes, calculations, 1970-1998 |
| Box 12 Folder 3 | Danos and Fano, "Graphical Analysis of Angular Momentum for Collision Products," diagrams, transparencies, drafts, 1997 |
| Box 12 Folder 4 | Drafts, ca. 1970s-1993 |
| Box 12 Folder 5 | "Chaos and History," drafts, 1996-1999 |
| Box 12 Folder 6 | Untitled book on physics for the layman, 2002 |
| Box 12 Folder 7 | Manuscripts, 1960s-1990s |
| Box 13 Folder 1-4 | Manuscripts, 1960s-1990s |
| Box 13 Folder 5 | Articles and papers by others, 1977-1996 |
Series III: Lectures & Conferences |
Series III contains material from Michael Danos’s own lectures, as well as material from various conferences and talks which he attended. This series contains a large number of handwritten transparencies that were apparently used to accompany his lectures. It contains a number of photographs from scientific conferences from the 1950s-1980s. There is also a significant amount of material on a U.S. government-sponsored scientific trip to the Baltic States in 1992, in which Michael Danos participated.
| Box 14 Folder 1 | Transparencies, Danos, "Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE) Utilizing X-Ray Backscatter Techniques," September 7, 1989 |
| Box 14 Folder 2 | Transparencies of Danos and Balyaev, "Estimate of the Neutron Transfer Fusion Rate," 1991 |
| Box 14 Folder 3 | Transparencies, "Mathematically rigorous QFT" and QCD vacuum article, n.d. |
| Box 14 Folder 4-5 | Transparencies, cold fusion, n.d. |
| Box 14 Folder 6 | Transparencies and notes, n.d. |
| Box 14 Folder 7 | Transparencies, Danos, "The Paradox of Entropy Production in Quantum Physics…" n.d. |
| Box 14 Folder 8 | Transparencies of Danos articles, notes, n.d. |
| Box 14 Folder 9 | Danos, "Lectures on Nuclear Structure," 1970 |
| Box 14 Folder 10 | Photonuclear physics, "Lectures by Dr. Michael Danos," July 1961 |
| Box 15 Folder 1 | Baltic trip, general materials, 1992 |
| Box 15 Folder 2 | Baltic trip, Estonian materials, 1992 |
| Box 15 Folder 3 | Baltic trip, Latvian materials, 1992 |
| Box 15 Folder 4 | Baltic trip, Lithuanian materials 1992 |
| Box 15 Folder 5 | Baltic trip, general materials, 1992 |
| Box 16 Folder 1 | Conference photographs, ca. 1950s-1986 |
| Box 16 Folder 2 | Foreign trip reports, 1978-1985 |
| Box 16 Folder 3 | Saclay conference paperwork, 1982 |
| Box 16 Folder 4 | Hadronic round table, October 12, 1988 |
| Box 16 Folder 5 | Conference paperwork, 1989 |
| Box 16 Folder 6 | NIST talk, "Quantum Physics Entropy…" September 10, 1992 |
| Box 16 Folder 7 | Bodrum meeting, 1993 |
| Box 16 Folder 8 | NATO workshop, hot hadronic matter, June 27-July 1, 1994 |
| Box 16 Folder 9 | STATPHYS 20 conference paperwork, 1998 |
| Box 16 Folder 10 | Conference materials, 1990s |
Series IV: Reprints |
This series contains reprints of publications by Michael Danos, ranging in period from the 1950s to the 1990s. Box 17 contains a series of reprints that have been grouped by subject, rather than by chronology.
| Box 16 continued Folder 11 | Reprints, 1950-1959 |
| Box 16 continued Folder 12 | Reprints, 1961 |
| Box 16 continued Folder 13 | Reprints, 1960-1965 |
| Box 16 continued Folder 14 | Reprints, 1966-1969 |
| Box 17 Folder 1-11 | Reprints by subject, 1957-1998 |
| Box 17 Folder 12-13 | Reprints, 1970s |
| Box 18 Folder 1-9 | Reprints, 1970s |
| Box 19 Folder 1 | Reprints, 1980-1985 |
| Box 19 Folder 2-3 | Reprints, 1985-1989 |
| Box 19 Folder 4-5 | Reprints, 1991-1998 |
| Box 19 Folder 6 | Reprints, n.d. |
Series V: Restricted Materials |
This series contains a variety of restricted materials, primarily legal and financial correspondence as well as referee reports. Box 28 contains 44 computer disks in obsolescent formats. Oversized patent blueprints have been unrestricted, and moved to Series VI.
| Box 20 Folder 1 | Incompletes, correspondence and drafts of papers, 1961-1994 |
| Box 20 Folder 2 | Incompletes, correspondence and drafts of papers, 1968-1987 |
| Box 20 Folder 3 | Incompletes, correspondence and drafts of papers, 1983-1994 |
| Box 20 Folder 4 | Central rapidity, draft of papers, correspondence, referee reports 1968-1982 |
| Box 20 Folder 5 | Physical - spurious, drafts of paper, correspondence, referee reports, 1975-1983 |
| Box 20 Folder 6 | Correspondence, 1974-1982 |
| Box 20 Folder 7 | Correspondence, 1976-1984 |
| Box 21 Folder 1 | Correspondence, 1978-1982 |
| Box 21 Folder 2 | Correspondence, 1978-1986 |
| Box 21 Folder 3 | Correspondence, 1982-1983 |
| Box 21 Folder 4 | Correspondence, 1982-1987 |
| Box 21 Folder 5 | Correspondence, 1984-1986 |
| Box 21 Folder 6 | Correspondence, 1987-1989 |
| Box 21 Folder 7 | Correspondence, 1989-1990 |
| Box 22 Folder 1 | Correspondence, 1989-1991 |
| Box 22 Folder 2 | Correspondence, 1991 |
| Box 22 Folder 3 | Correspondence, 1991-1992 |
| Box 22 Folder 4 | Correspondence, 1992-1993 |
| Box 22 Folder 5 | Correspondence, 1992-1995 |
| Box 22 Folder 6 | Referee Reports, 1990s |
| Box 22 Folder 7 | Outline QF, correspondence, referee reports, and drafts of "Outline for a Mathematically Rigorous Formulation of Quantum Filed Theory Based on Generalized Functions," 1991 |
| Box 22 Folder 8 | Rafelski, biographical material and letters of recommendation, 1991 |
| Box 22 Folder 9 | Travel paperwork, tax forms, royalty information, certificate of naturalization, 1957-1987 |
| Box 22 Folder 10 | Soviet Travel, applications, paperwork, correspondence, 1959-1990 |
| Box 22 Folder 11 | Identification cards, 1969-1997 |
| Box 23 Folder 1 | Travel documents, government travel orders, 1970-1990 |
| Box 23 Folder 2 | Receipts, contracts, 1973-1986 |
| Box 23 Folder 3 | Checkbook ledgers, 1985-1999 |
| Box 23 Folder 4 | Angular Momentum, correspondence and paperwork concerning publication of book, 1990 |
| Box 23 Folder 5 | Personnel information: paperwork, evaluations, 1951-1977 |
| Box 23 Folder 6 | Personnel action, government personnel paperwork, 1954-1991 |
| Box 23 Folder 7 | Administrative, applications, correspondence, forms 1962-1985 |
| Box 23 Folder 8 | Personnel paperwork, evaluations, 1964-1993 |
| Box 23 Folder 9 | Personnel Administration, performance plans and appraisals, 1976-1991 |
| Box 23 Folder 10 | Senior Executive Service (SES), information, financial disclosures, 1978-1994 |
| Box 24 Folder 1 | Patent applications and agreements, A-J, 1966-1990 |
| Box 24 Folder 2 | Patent applications and agreements, K-Z, 1976-1991 |
| Box 24 Folder 3 | Patents, disclosures, designs, applications, correspondence, evaluations, 1989-1993 |
| Box 24 Folder 4 | Non-Destructive Inspection of Material with Radiation, patent applications and agreements, 1980-1995 |
| Box 24 Folder 5 | Patent applications, designs, correspondence, 1978-1987 |
| Box 25 Folder 1 | Optimal High Intensity X-Ray Beam/ Non-Destructive Inspection of Materials with Radiation, applications, correspondence, 1986-1989 |
| Box 25 Folder 2 | Photon Counting Structure/ Non-Destructive Inspection/ Piezonuclear Fusion, patent applications, correspondence, agreements, 1967-1989 |
| Box 25 Folder 3 | Plans, patent information, 1974-1985 |
| Box 25 Folder 4 | Plans patent information, 1941-1985 |
| Box 26 Folder 1 | Patent administration, 1975-1996 |
| Box 26 Folder 2 | Correspondence, agreements, plans about patents, 1980-1998 |
| Box 26 Folder 3 | Patent agreements, applications, plans, 1972-1985 |
| Box 26 Folder 4 | Proposals, correspondence, plans, patent applications, photographs, 1970-1985 |
| Box 26 Folder 5 | Patents, disclosures, designs, applications, correspondence, evaluations, 1973-1991 |
| Box 26 Folder 6 | Patents, disclosures, designs, applications, correspondence, evaluations, 1979-1993 |
| Box 27 Folder 1 | U.S. patents for various apparatuses, 1961-1988 |
| Box 27 Folder 2 | Filters, plans and calculations, n.d. |
| Box 27 Folder 3 | U.S. patents, 1947-1979 |
| Box 27 Folder 4 | Reports, correspondence, patent information, 1937-1984 |
| Box 27 Folder 5 | Employment paperwork, 1993 |
| Box 27 Folder 6 | Manuscript and referee reports, "Sudden formation of quark-gluon plasma", 1982-1986 |
| Box 27 Folder 7 | Royalty information, publishing contracts, 1980-1990 |
| Box 27 Folder 8 | Financial information, 1989-1999 |
| Box 28 | 44 computer disks, mainly 3.5 floppy disks but also several zip disks and a 5.25 floppy, ca. 1979-1999 |
Series VI: Oversize Documents |
This series contains oversized documents transferred from other series. The materials in Folder 1 were removed from Series V, but are themselves unrestricted. Materials in Folder 2 were removed from Series II.
| Box 29 Folder 1 | Patent blueprints, 1980 |
| Box 29 Folder 2 | Diagrams, n.d. |