History of the New York University Physics Department

Abstract

We trace the history of physics at New York University after its founding in 1831, focusing especially on its relatively recent history, which can be divided into five periods: the Gregory Breit period from 1929 to 1934; the prewar period from 1935 to 1941; the wartime period from 1942 to 1945; the postwar period from around 1961 to 1973 when several semiautonomous physics departments were united into a single all-university department under a single head; and after 1973 when the University Heights campus was sold to New York City and its physics department joined the one at the Washington Square campus. For each of these periods we comment on the careers and work of prominent members of the physics faculty and on some of the outstanding graduate students who later went on to distinguished careers at NYU and elsewhere.