The Faculty
IN THE THIRD of a continuing series of reports on changes in the Dartmouth curriculum, we come this month to the Department of Physics.
Recognizing the major task of the Physics Department to provide the pregraduate-school training of professional physicists, the new program of courses aims simultaneously to promote independent work of high caliber and a close student-faculty relationship. The department hopes, according to its chairman, Prof. Leonard M. Rieser Jr. '44, to develop a close interaction between student and faculty member through independent or non-class type work in which both are interested. Physics 81, advanced laboratory work for seniors, will contribute to such interaction, as will the undergraduate teaching and research assistantships and Physics 83, an independent research program.
At the same time the Department feels very strongly that students not pursuing science should be encouraged to study undergraduate physics, and consequently Physics 1 has been totally revised to meet the needs of the non-science major. This course concerns itself with selected topics in contemporary and classical physics, presented in the light of their historical and philosophical significance. Intelligent understanding of the nature of the discipline rather than technical competence in it is the aim of Physics 1.
Prerequisites to the eight-course major are Physics 3 and 4, introductory courses, and Mathematics 3, 4, 11 and 12, differential equations, modern mathematical methods and the functions of more than one variable. In the sophomore year the physics major takes Courses 33 and 34, intermediate physics. These courses are concerned with contemporary physical concepts and are followed in the junior year by a study of classical considerations of electric circuits, electromagnetic fields, and optics, Courses 41, 42, and 43. Physics 51, mechanics, is also taken by juniors. Requirements for the senior year are Physics 71, atomic physics, and Physics 81, advanced laboratory. Course 71 provides a background for Courses 72 and 73, solid state and nuclear physics, which are offered to both undergraduate and graduate students.
In advanced laboratory the emphasis is on individual work. Problems studied include atomic spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, proton magnetic resonance, nuclear reactions, mass spectroscopy, and beta decay, and are designed so that each will take several weeks for completion and will require outside reading and consultation with a member of the faculty. The experiments available in advanced laboratory are set up by a faculty member in an area in which he is competent as a researcher, and by selecting problems which fit his particular progress and interests, the student will also get acquainted with members of the Department in a close working relationship.
Differing from advanced laboratory, in that considerable time is spent on a single narrow topic, Course 83, undergraduate research, provides a means for intensive individual work in either experimental or theoretical physics. Accomplishment in advanced laboratory is required for admission to the research program in order to assure that independent work will be of high caliber. As in Course 81, students engaged in research, work closely with a member of the faculty.
In addition to nuclear and solid state physics as combined undergraduate and graduate courses, the curriculum contains Courses 62 and 66, offered in alternate years, which take up elasticity and hydrodynamics, and thermodynamics, respectively. The graduate program, designed primarily for teaching fellows and research assistants, makes it possible for undergraduates to move as rapidly as they can. The Department's program includes Courses 101, advanced classical mechanics; 103, statistical mechanics; 105, electromagnetic theory; 107, quantum mechanics; and 121-23, graduate research.
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR J. Laurie Snell of the Mathematics Department will be on leave of absence for the coming academic year. Granted a National Science Foundation Fellowship, Professor Snell will study the application of mathematical probability to the social sciences at Stanford University. He plans also to observe the newly instituted department of behavioral sciences at Stanford.
PROFESSOR of German Frank G. Ryder recently presented a paper entitled, "Some Quantitative Approaches to German Poetry" at the University of Kentucky Foreign Language Conference held in Lexington, Kentucky.
At the 49th Annual Convention of the Speech Association of the Eastern States held in late April, Professor Almon Ives of the Speech Department participated in a panel discussion of "Problems of Increased College Enrollment." Professor Ives also read a paper on "Aesthetics in Oral Reading."
Professor Roy P. Forster of the Zoology Department presented a paper on cellular aspects of kidney function at the annual meetings of the American Physiological Society held in Philadelphia.
Professor Allen L. King of the Physics Department was re-elected chairman of the New England Section of the American Association of Physics Teachers at their recent meeting in Portland, Maine.
Professor Ralph A. Burns acted as leader of one of the two discussion sessions at the New Hampshire Conference on Education Beyond the High School, held at Plymouth (N. H.) State Teachers College in late April.
Professor of Psychology C. N. Allen '24 spoke on "Creative Imagination" at the sales conference of "The Tool Engineer" held recently in Madison, Wisconsin.
Professor George A. Taylor of the Thayer School spoke at the meeting of the Tri-State Chapter of the American Institute of Industrial Engineers held recently at the Thayer School. He spoke on the subject, "Breaking the Barrier to Creativity." Chapter members inspected Thayer's Methods Improvement Laboratory which was founded in 1950 and is directed by Professor Taylor.
Professor Richard Eberhart '26 of the English Department gave the annual Abernathy Lecture at Middlebury College recently. The lecture is sponsored by the college and its Abernathy Library of American Literature.
PROFESSOR of Art Hugh S. Morrison '26 was one of three judges in the Boston Arts Festival Architecture competition. The judges gave the award to the Scusset Beach Development designed by architect James Lawrence Jr. of the Boston firm of Child, Lawrence and Shannon.
PROFESSOR S. Russell Stearns '37 presented a paper at the two-day symposium held under the auspices of the National Research Council of Canada at Ottawa. Professor Stearns discussed the bearing strength of ice, concerning himself with "The Relative Strength of Center-Loaded, Edge-Loaded, Sectorial Plates on an Elastic Foundation as Determined by Model Studies," based on work done with the Division of Building Research of the National Council. He spoke to an audience which included engineers and scientists from Canada, Great Britain and the United States.
THREE members of the English Department were participants in the Conference on College Composition and Communication held this spring under the auspices of the National Council of Teachers of English. Leading a discussion of "Special Problems of the Freshman Course in the Liberal Arts Colleges" was Professor F. C. Flint; participating as chairman of the discussion of "The Study of Standard Literature in the Freshman Course" was Professor John Finch; and speaking on the subject of "Ways of Maintaining English Proficiency Beyond the Freshman Year" was Assistant Professor Thaddeus Seymour.
PROFESSOR of German Frank Ryder was elected President of the Northern New England Chapter of the American Association of Teachers of German at a meeting held recently at the University of Vermont. Teachers of German in colleges, universities, high schools, and preparatory schools in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont are members of the organization.
THE Hanover community was saddened by the death of Lloyd P. Rice, Professor of Economics, Emeritus, on May 10 after a long illness. He had taught at Dartmouth for 36 years prior to his retirement in 1956 and was well known in the fields of taxation and public finance.
President Dickey and President E. WilsonLyon of Pomona College, in whose office theyare looking at a portrait of the late Prof.Frank P. Brackett '87, a member of the firstPomona faculty and author of a history ofthe college. President Dickey visited Pomonaduring his April trip to California.
