Henry DeWolf Smyth
Encyclopedia
Henry DeWolf "Harry" Smyth (May 1, 1898 – September 11, 1986) was an American
physicist
, diplomat
, and bureaucrat
who played a number of key roles in the early development of nuclear energy
. Educated at Princeton University
and the University of Cambridge
, he was a faculty member in Princeton's Department of Physics from 1924 to 1966. He chaired the department from 1935 to 1949. His early research was on the ionization
of gases, but his interests shifted toward nuclear physics
beginning in the mid-1930s.
During World War II
he was a member of the National Defense Research Committee
's Uranium Section
and a consultant on the Manhattan Project
. He wrote the Manhattan Project's first public official history, which came to be known as the Smyth Report
.
As a member of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission from 1949 to 1954, Smyth urged in vain against the development of the hydrogen bomb and in favor of international control of nuclear weapons. He was the sole member of the commission to vote against stripping J. Robert Oppenheimer's security clearance
. He served as the U.S. representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA) from 1961 to 1970, playing an important role in the realization of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
.
He received the Atoms for Peace Award
in 1968 and the U.S. State Department's Distinguished Honor Award
in 1970. The American Nuclear Society
's award for "nuclear statesmanship", of which he was the first recipient, is named in his honor.
, New York
, to Ruth Anne Phelps and Charles Henry Smyth, Jr., a professor of geology
at Hamilton College. Woodrow Wilson
, then President of Princeton University
, convinced Charles Henry Smyth, Jr., to join the faculty at Princeton, and in 1905 the family moved to Princeton, New Jersey
.
Henry DeWolf Smyth's elder brother, Charles Phelps Smyth
, attended the same primary and secondary
schools as Henry. The elder brother also received undergraduate and master's degrees from Princeton, but in chemistry
. He earned his Ph.D. at Harvard University
but like Henry and their father became a faculty member at Princeton. Both brothers served in the Chemical Warfare Service in World War I
and on the Manhattan Project
.
Henry DeWolf Smyth married Mary de Coningh on June 30, 1936. He was a member of the Democratic Party
.
, and the Lawrenceville School
. After graduating from Lawrenceville in 1914, he entered Princeton, where he received a classical education
and graduated first in his class in 1918. He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi
.
Smyth remained at Princeton to do graduate work; he and Allen Shenstone
were the only graduate students in the Department of Physics. Smyth earned a master's degree
and Ph.D.
in physics from Princeton in 1920 and 1921, respectively, studying under Karl Taylor Compton
. Then the National Research Council
awarded Smyth a fellowship, and he joined the Cavendish Laboratory
at the University of Cambridge
. There he studied under Ernest Rutherford
and earned a second Ph.D., in 1923.
. After getting his second Ph.D., he returned to Princeton for the last year of his NRC fellowship. He was appointed an instructor in 1924, an assistant professor in 1925, an associate professor in 1929, and a full professor in 1936. In 1935 he became chairman of the Department of Physics, a position he held until 1949. During 1931–32 he was a Guggenheim Fellow at the University of Göttingen.
Smyth's early research was in spectroscopy
, focusing on ionization
of gases by impact with electrons as a means to study the gases' critical energy levels. He published his first research article, on the radiating potentials of nitrogen
gas, in 1919; this became the basis of his first dissertation. In a 1922 article, he described a method for determining the ionization energy
of a molecule using anode rays and demonstrated the method on mercury
vapor. In the following year he used this same method to study nitrogen. He also published on the ionization of
hydrogen
, carbon dioxide
, nitrous oxide
, nitrogen dioxide
, water vapor
, sulfur dioxide
, and carbon disulfide
. As Robert H. Dicke
, Val Logsdon Fitch
, and Rubby Sherr wrote in 1989, "By 1935 his 30 published papers established him as a leading experimentalist
" in the field. In 1929 Kenneth Bainbridge
completed his Ph.D. dissertation at Princeton working under Smyth, using anode rays to search for element 87.
In the mid-1930s, Smyth began to shift his interest to nuclear physics
, inspired by James Chadwick
's discovery of the neutron
, John Cockcroft
and Ernest Walton
splitting the atom, and Ernest Lawrence
's invention of the cyclotron
. Three of his last research articles concerned detection of triatomic hydrogen
and helium-3
. His appointment as department chair forced him to devote more time to administrative work, at the expense of research. As department chair, he had two cyclotrons built at Princeton, one in 1935 and the other in 1946.
He was a member of the subcommittee on physics of the National Research Council from 1928 to 1935. In 1936 Smyth responded to media criticism of basic science research as "useless" by suggesting that seemingly useless research could turn out to be very useful later.
During World War II
, Smyth was involved in helping the United States build the atomic bomb. During 1941–43 was a member of the National Defense Research Committee
(NDRC)'s Uranium Section
charged with producing fissile
material for the bomb. Smyth proposed the electromagnetic
methods that were used to enrich
the first large U-235 samples for the project. He also oversaw a nuclear fission
-related project for the Office of Scientific Research and Development
(OSRD). During 1943–45 he was a consultant to the Manhattan Project, which built and tested the weapon. He remained chairman of Princeton's physics department throughout the war, and the attendant obligations forced him to participate less actively in the project's later stages.
Smyth advocated within the NDRC for a comprehensive report to be released to the public following the weapon's first use. Vannevar Bush
, who as civilian director of the OSRD oversaw the NDRC, agreed, and selected Smyth to write the report following the recommendation of NDRC chairman James Bryant Conant
. Manhattan Project director General Leslie Groves
granted Smyth unlimited access, waiving his usual security-minded insistence on compartmentalization. Smyth wrote what became known as the Smyth Report
in his office in Princeton's Palmer Laboratory, which later became the Frist Campus Center
.
The report was first released to the press on August 12, 1945, days after the attacks
on Hiroshima
and Nagasaki
. The Government Printing Office could not print enough copies to meet demand, so Smyth persuaded the director of the Princeton University Press
to print more. By the end of the Press's 1946 fiscal year it had printed 103,000 copies. Smyth held the copyright
to the work to prevent others from claiming it, but he permitted widespread reproduction, essentially releasing it into the public domain
. He later reported that "my financial balance from the Smyth Report is minus two dollars, the copyright fee."
In the report, Smyth called it "a semi-technical report which it is hoped men of science in this country can use to help their fellow citizens in reaching wise decisions" in the new Atomic Age
. At the urging of his superiors, he removed several discussions of the bomb's moral implications and its creators' unease. Rebecca Press Schwartz argues that Smyth's academic background and his report's security-driven focus on physics at the expense of engineering caused the Smyth Report to promote a public perception of the Manhattan Project as primarily an achievement of physicists.
Professor of Physics in 1946. During this time he spoke and wrote regularly about nuclear energy
and science policy
and worked to expand the physics department.
In 1949 Smyth resigned as department chairman (and was succeeded by his colleague Shenstone) after President Harry Truman named him to the Atomic Energy Commission
. He was the commission's only scientist. Following the Soviet Union
's successful nuclear test in August 1949, the U.S. was considering a crash course to develop a hydrogen bomb. The AEC's nine-member General Advisory Committee, chaired by J. Robert Oppenheimer, recommended unanimously against such a course, and Smyth was one of three of the five AEC commissioners to agree. Smyth urged Truman to endorse international control of nuclear weapons, but Truman decided instead to authorize a hydrogen bomb program.
In 1953 Smyth and John A. Hall served as principal advisors to President Dwight Eisenhower in preparing his Atoms for Peace
speech to the United Nations
. The IAEA traces its origins to this speech.
In 1954 the AEC was considering rescinding Oppenheimer's security clearance
on suspicion that he was a Communist. Smyth was still the only scientist on the commission. Despite his personal dislike of Oppenheimer and pressure from the commission's chairman, Lewis Strauss, Smyth was the sole commissioner to vote against stripping Oppenheimer's clearance on June 29, 1954. Smyth resigned from the AEC on September 30 of that year out of frustration with Strauss. Eulogizing
Oppenheimer in 1967, Smyth said of Oppenheimer's treatment, "Such a wrong can never be righted; such a blot on our history never erased.... We regret that his great work for his country was repaid so shabbily".
Smyth returned to Princeton and served on several high-level administrative committees. This work included advising on the construction of a particle accelerator
built jointly with the University of Pennsylvania
and overseeing Project Matterhorn, which became the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
. He chaired the committee that chose Robert F. Goheen
to succeed Harold W. Dodds
as President of Princeton. He also served as a consultant on nuclear power to Congress, the AEC, and private industry. He retired from Princeton in 1966.
Smyth was a fellow of the American Physical Society
and served as its Vice President in 1956 and its President in 1957. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society
in 1947 and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
in 1956. He was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations
.
John F. Kennedy
appointed Smyth as the representative of the United States to the IAEA, a position with the rank of Ambassador
. Smyth assumed the position on June 13, 1961, following confirmation by the U.S. Senate. Smyth shared the organization's stated goal of developing nuclear technology for peaceful purposes. He helped develop what Glenn Seaborg later called "an unprecedented atmosphere of rapport" at the IAEA and played a crucial role in the adoption of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
in 1970. He retired from the IAEA on August 31, 1970.
In September 1961, Harlan Cleveland
, then Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs, appointed Smyth to chair a committee to review U.S. policy toward the IAEA. The committee's report affirmed the importance of civilian uses of nuclear energy. In 1962 Cleveland again tapped Smyth, this time as an adviser to the State Department on the IAEA. In this position Smyth advocated for a transfer of national nuclear safeguards to the IAEA.
In December 1965, Smyth was elected Chairman of the Board of the Universities Research Association
. During Smyth's tenure, the URA signed a contract with the U.S. government to construct and operate the National Accelerator Laboratory, which later became known as Fermilab
. Construction began, and research programs were planned. Smyth stepped down as chairman in 1970 but remained on the board. He also served on the board of Associated Universities, Inc., which operated the Brookhaven National Laboratory
and National Radio Astronomy Observatory
.
Smyth received the Atoms for Peace Award
in 1968 and the State Department's Distinguished Honor Award
in 1970. In 1972 he became the first recipient of an award for nuclear statesmanship given jointly by the American Nuclear Society
and the Nuclear Energy Institute
. By 1974, when the award was next given, it had been named the Henry DeWolf Smyth Nuclear Statesman Award.
in 1985, he denounced President Ronald Reagan
's Strategic Defense Initiative
and called for joint arms reductions between the United States and the Soviet Union. He died September 11, 1986, in Princeton. The cause was cardiac arrest
, though he had long battled cancer
.
Smyth endowed a chair in the Physics Department in his will
. The sitting Henry DeWolf Smyth Professor of Physics is Lyman Page
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
physicist
Physicist
A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
, diplomat
Diplomat
A diplomat is a person appointed by a state to conduct diplomacy with another state or international organization. The main functions of diplomats revolve around the representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the sending state, as well as the promotion of information and...
, and bureaucrat
Bureaucrat
A bureaucrat is a member of a bureaucracy and can comprise the administration of any organization of any size, though the term usually connotes someone within an institution of a government or corporation...
who played a number of key roles in the early development of nuclear energy
Nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
. Educated at Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
and the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
, he was a faculty member in Princeton's Department of Physics from 1924 to 1966. He chaired the department from 1935 to 1949. His early research was on the ionization
Ionization
Ionization is the process of converting an atom or molecule into an ion by adding or removing charged particles such as electrons or other ions. This is often confused with dissociation. A substance may dissociate without necessarily producing ions. As an example, the molecules of table sugar...
of gases, but his interests shifted toward nuclear physics
Nuclear physics
Nuclear physics is the field of physics that studies the building blocks and interactions of atomic nuclei. The most commonly known applications of nuclear physics are nuclear power generation and nuclear weapons technology, but the research has provided application in many fields, including those...
beginning in the mid-1930s.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
he was a member of the National Defense Research Committee
National Defense Research Committee
The National Defense Research Committee was an organization created "to coordinate, supervise, and conduct scientific research on the problems underlying the development, production, and use of mechanisms and devices of warfare" in the United States from June 27, 1940 until June 28, 1941...
's Uranium Section
S-1 Uranium Committee
The S-1 Uranium Committee was a Committee of the National Defense Research Committee that succeeded the Briggs Advisory Committee on Uranium and later evolved into the Manhattan Project.- World War II begins :...
and a consultant on the Manhattan Project
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development program, led by the United States with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army...
. He wrote the Manhattan Project's first public official history, which came to be known as the Smyth Report
Smyth Report
The Smyth Report was the common name given to an administrative history written by physicist Henry DeWolf Smyth about the Allied World War II effort to develop the atomic bomb, the Manhattan Project...
.
As a member of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission from 1949 to 1954, Smyth urged in vain against the development of the hydrogen bomb and in favor of international control of nuclear weapons. He was the sole member of the commission to vote against stripping J. Robert Oppenheimer's security clearance
Security clearance
A security clearance is a status granted to individuals allowing them access to classified information, i.e., state secrets, or to restricted areas after completion of a thorough background check. The term "security clearance" is also sometimes used in private organizations that have a formal...
. He served as the U.S. representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency
International Atomic Energy Agency
The International Atomic Energy Agency is an international organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy, and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons. The IAEA was established as an autonomous organization on 29 July 1957...
(IAEA) from 1961 to 1970, playing an important role in the realization of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, commonly known as the Non-Proliferation Treaty or NPT, is a landmark international treaty whose objective is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, to promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and to...
.
He received the Atoms for Peace Award
Atoms for Peace Award
The Atoms for Peace Award was established in 1955 through a grant of $1,000,000 by the Ford Motor Company Fund. An independent nonprofit corporation was set up to administer the award for the development or application of peaceful nuclear technology. It was created in response to U.S. President...
in 1968 and the U.S. State Department's Distinguished Honor Award
Distinguished Honor Award
The Distinguished Honor Award is an award of the United States Department of State. Similar versions of the same award exist for the former U.S. Information Agency, Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, and USAID...
in 1970. The American Nuclear Society
American Nuclear Society
The American Nuclear Society is an international, not-for-profit 501 scientific and educational organization with a membership of approximately 11,000 scientists, engineers, educators, students, and other associate members. Approximately 900 members live outside the United States in 40 countries....
's award for "nuclear statesmanship", of which he was the first recipient, is named in his honor.
Personal life
Smyth was both May 1, 1898, in ClintonClinton, Oneida County, New York
Clinton is a village in Oneida County, New York, United States. The population was 1,952 at the 2000 census. It was named for George Clinton, a royal governor of the colony of New York....
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, to Ruth Anne Phelps and Charles Henry Smyth, Jr., a professor of geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
at Hamilton College. Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
, then President of Princeton University
President of Princeton University
Princeton University is led by a President selected by the Board of Trustees. Until the accession of Woodrow Wilson, a political scientist, in 1902, they were all clergymen, as well as professors. President Tilghman is a biologist; her two predecessors were economists.-Presidents:# Reverend...
, convinced Charles Henry Smyth, Jr., to join the faculty at Princeton, and in 1905 the family moved to Princeton, New Jersey
Princeton, New Jersey
Princeton is a community located in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. It is best known as the location of Princeton University, which has been sited in the community since 1756...
.
Henry DeWolf Smyth's elder brother, Charles Phelps Smyth
Charles Phelps Smyth
Charles Phelps "Charlie" Smyth was an American chemist. He was educated at Princeton University and Harvard University. From 1920 to 1963 he was a faculty member in the Princeton Department of Chemistry, and from 1963 to 1970 he was a consultant to the Office of Naval Research...
, attended the same primary and secondary
Secondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
schools as Henry. The elder brother also received undergraduate and master's degrees from Princeton, but in chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
. He earned his Ph.D. at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
but like Henry and their father became a faculty member at Princeton. Both brothers served in the Chemical Warfare Service in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and on the Manhattan Project
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development program, led by the United States with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army...
.
Henry DeWolf Smyth married Mary de Coningh on June 30, 1936. He was a member of the Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
.
Education
In Princeton, Smyth attended Miss Fine's School, which later became the Princeton Day SchoolPrinceton Day School
Princeton Day School is a private coeducational day school located in Princeton Township, New Jersey, serving students in grades pre kindergarten - 12. The largest division is the Upper School , with an enrollment of approximately 400...
, and the Lawrenceville School
Lawrenceville School
The Lawrenceville School is a coeducational, independent preparatory boarding school for grades 9–12 located on in the historic community of Lawrenceville, in Lawrence Township, New Jersey, U.S., five miles southwest of Princeton....
. After graduating from Lawrenceville in 1914, he entered Princeton, where he received a classical education
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
and graduated first in his class in 1918. He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi
Sigma Xi
Sigma Xi: The Scientific Research Society is a non-profit honor society which was founded in 1886 at Cornell University by a junior faculty member and a handful of graduate students. Members elect others on the basis of their research achievements or potential...
.
Smyth remained at Princeton to do graduate work; he and Allen Shenstone
Allen Shenstone
Allen Goodrich Shenstone, OBE was a Canadian physicist. He earned bachelor's, master's, and Ph.D. degrees from Princeton University, as well as a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Cambridge...
were the only graduate students in the Department of Physics. Smyth earned a master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
and Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in physics from Princeton in 1920 and 1921, respectively, studying under Karl Taylor Compton
Karl Taylor Compton
Karl Taylor Compton was a prominent American physicist and president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1930 to 1948.- The early years :...
. Then the National Research Council
National Research Council
National Research Council may refer to:* National Research Council , Canada's leading organization for scientific research and development...
awarded Smyth a fellowship, and he joined the Cavendish Laboratory
Cavendish Laboratory
The Cavendish Laboratory is the Department of Physics at the University of Cambridge, and is part of the university's School of Physical Sciences. It was opened in 1874 as a teaching laboratory....
at the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
. There he studied under Ernest Rutherford
Ernest Rutherford
Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson OM, FRS was a New Zealand-born British chemist and physicist who became known as the father of nuclear physics...
and earned a second Ph.D., in 1923.
Early career
During World War I, Smyth worked in the Chemical Warfare Service and at the Aberdeen Proving GroundAberdeen Proving Ground
Aberdeen Proving Ground is a United States Army facility located near Aberdeen, Maryland, . Part of the facility is a census-designated place , which had a population of 3,116 at the 2000 census.- History :...
. After getting his second Ph.D., he returned to Princeton for the last year of his NRC fellowship. He was appointed an instructor in 1924, an assistant professor in 1925, an associate professor in 1929, and a full professor in 1936. In 1935 he became chairman of the Department of Physics, a position he held until 1949. During 1931–32 he was a Guggenheim Fellow at the University of Göttingen.
Smyth's early research was in spectroscopy
Spectroscopy
Spectroscopy is the study of the interaction between matter and radiated energy. Historically, spectroscopy originated through the study of visible light dispersed according to its wavelength, e.g., by a prism. Later the concept was expanded greatly to comprise any interaction with radiative...
, focusing on ionization
Ionization
Ionization is the process of converting an atom or molecule into an ion by adding or removing charged particles such as electrons or other ions. This is often confused with dissociation. A substance may dissociate without necessarily producing ions. As an example, the molecules of table sugar...
of gases by impact with electrons as a means to study the gases' critical energy levels. He published his first research article, on the radiating potentials of nitrogen
Nitrogen
Nitrogen is a chemical element that has the symbol N, atomic number of 7 and atomic mass 14.00674 u. Elemental nitrogen is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, and mostly inert diatomic gas at standard conditions, constituting 78.08% by volume of Earth's atmosphere...
gas, in 1919; this became the basis of his first dissertation. In a 1922 article, he described a method for determining the ionization energy
Ionization energy
The ionization energy of a chemical species, i.e. an atom or molecule, is the energy required to remove an electron from the species to a practically infinite distance. Large atoms or molecules have a low ionization energy, while small molecules tend to have higher ionization energies.The property...
of a molecule using anode rays and demonstrated the method on mercury
Mercury (element)
Mercury is a chemical element with the symbol Hg and atomic number 80. It is also known as quicksilver or hydrargyrum...
vapor. In the following year he used this same method to study nitrogen. He also published on the ionization of
hydrogen
Hydrogen
Hydrogen is the chemical element with atomic number 1. It is represented by the symbol H. With an average atomic weight of , hydrogen is the lightest and most abundant chemical element, constituting roughly 75% of the Universe's chemical elemental mass. Stars in the main sequence are mainly...
, carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom...
, nitrous oxide
Nitrous oxide
Nitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas or sweet air, is a chemical compound with the formula . It is an oxide of nitrogen. At room temperature, it is a colorless non-flammable gas, with a slightly sweet odor and taste. It is used in surgery and dentistry for its anesthetic and analgesic...
, nitrogen dioxide
Nitrogen dioxide
Nitrogen dioxide is the chemical compound with the formula it is one of several nitrogen oxides. is an intermediate in the industrial synthesis of nitric acid, millions of tons of which are produced each year. This reddish-brown toxic gas has a characteristic sharp, biting odor and is a prominent...
, water vapor
Water vapor
Water vapor or water vapour , also aqueous vapor, is the gas phase of water. It is one state of water within the hydrosphere. Water vapor can be produced from the evaporation or boiling of liquid water or from the sublimation of ice. Under typical atmospheric conditions, water vapor is continuously...
, sulfur dioxide
Sulfur dioxide
Sulfur dioxide is the chemical compound with the formula . It is released by volcanoes and in various industrial processes. Since coal and petroleum often contain sulfur compounds, their combustion generates sulfur dioxide unless the sulfur compounds are removed before burning the fuel...
, and carbon disulfide
Carbon disulfide
Carbon disulfide is a colorless volatile liquid with the formula CS2. The compound is used frequently as a building block in organic chemistry as well as an industrial and chemical non-polar solvent...
. As Robert H. Dicke
Robert H. Dicke
Robert Henry Dicke was an American physicist who made important contributions to the fields of astrophysics, atomic physics, cosmology and gravity.-Biography:...
, Val Logsdon Fitch
Val Logsdon Fitch
Val Logsdon Fitch is an American nuclear physicist. A native of Merriman, Nebraska, he graduated from Gordon High School and attended Chadron State College for three years before being drafted into the U.S. army in 1943...
, and Rubby Sherr wrote in 1989, "By 1935 his 30 published papers established him as a leading experimentalist
Experimentalist
"Experimentalist" is a blanket term for all sorts of scientists engaged more in experimental activity than in the theoretical side of their sciences....
" in the field. In 1929 Kenneth Bainbridge
Kenneth Bainbridge
Kenneth Tompkins Bainbridge was an American physicist at Harvard University who did work on cyclotron research. His precise measurements of mass differences between nuclear isotopes allowed him to confirm Albert Einstein's mass-energy equivalence concept. He was the Director of the Trinity test of...
completed his Ph.D. dissertation at Princeton working under Smyth, using anode rays to search for element 87.
In the mid-1930s, Smyth began to shift his interest to nuclear physics
Nuclear physics
Nuclear physics is the field of physics that studies the building blocks and interactions of atomic nuclei. The most commonly known applications of nuclear physics are nuclear power generation and nuclear weapons technology, but the research has provided application in many fields, including those...
, inspired by James Chadwick
James Chadwick
Sir James Chadwick CH FRS was an English Nobel laureate in physics awarded for his discovery of the neutron....
's discovery of the neutron
Neutron
The neutron is a subatomic hadron particle which has the symbol or , no net electric charge and a mass slightly larger than that of a proton. With the exception of hydrogen, nuclei of atoms consist of protons and neutrons, which are therefore collectively referred to as nucleons. The number of...
, John Cockcroft
John Cockcroft
Sir John Douglas Cockcroft OM KCB CBE FRS was a British physicist. He shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for splitting the atomic nucleus with Ernest Walton, and was instrumental in the development of nuclear power....
and Ernest Walton
Ernest Walton
Ernest Thomas Sinton Walton was an Irish physicist and Nobel laureate for his work with John Cockcroft with "atom-smashing" experiments done at Cambridge University in the early 1930s, and so became the first person in history to artificially split the atom, thus ushering the nuclear age...
splitting the atom, and Ernest Lawrence
Ernest Lawrence
Ernest Orlando Lawrence was an American physicist and Nobel Laureate, known for his invention, utilization, and improvement of the cyclotron atom-smasher beginning in 1929, based on his studies of the works of Rolf Widerøe, and his later work in uranium-isotope separation for the Manhattan Project...
's invention of the cyclotron
Cyclotron
In technology, a cyclotron is a type of particle accelerator. In physics, the cyclotron frequency or gyrofrequency is the frequency of a charged particle moving perpendicularly to the direction of a uniform magnetic field, i.e. a magnetic field of constant magnitude and direction...
. Three of his last research articles concerned detection of triatomic hydrogen
Triatomic hydrogen
Triatomic hydrogen or H3 is an unstable molecule composed of three atoms of hydrogen.The neutral molecule can be formed in a low pressure gas discharge tube.It can break up in the following ways: H_3 \quad \longrightarrow \quad H_3^+ \ + \ e^-...
and helium-3
Helium-3
Helium-3 is a light, non-radioactive isotope of helium with two protons and one neutron. It is rare on Earth, and is sought for use in nuclear fusion research...
. His appointment as department chair forced him to devote more time to administrative work, at the expense of research. As department chair, he had two cyclotrons built at Princeton, one in 1935 and the other in 1946.
He was a member of the subcommittee on physics of the National Research Council from 1928 to 1935. In 1936 Smyth responded to media criticism of basic science research as "useless" by suggesting that seemingly useless research could turn out to be very useful later.
World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Smyth was involved in helping the United States build the atomic bomb. During 1941–43 was a member of the National Defense Research Committee
National Defense Research Committee
The National Defense Research Committee was an organization created "to coordinate, supervise, and conduct scientific research on the problems underlying the development, production, and use of mechanisms and devices of warfare" in the United States from June 27, 1940 until June 28, 1941...
(NDRC)'s Uranium Section
S-1 Uranium Committee
The S-1 Uranium Committee was a Committee of the National Defense Research Committee that succeeded the Briggs Advisory Committee on Uranium and later evolved into the Manhattan Project.- World War II begins :...
charged with producing fissile
Fissile
In nuclear engineering, a fissile material is one that is capable of sustaining a chain reaction of nuclear fission. By definition, fissile materials can sustain a chain reaction with neutrons of any energy. The predominant neutron energy may be typified by either slow neutrons or fast neutrons...
material for the bomb. Smyth proposed the electromagnetic
Electromagnetic
Electromagnetic may refer to:* Electromagnetism* Electromagnetic field* Electromagnetic force* Electromagnetic radiation* Electromagnetic induction* Electromagnetic spectrum...
methods that were used to enrich
Enriched uranium
Enriched uranium is a kind of uranium in which the percent composition of uranium-235 has been increased through the process of isotope separation. Natural uranium is 99.284% 238U isotope, with 235U only constituting about 0.711% of its weight...
the first large U-235 samples for the project. He also oversaw a nuclear fission
Nuclear fission
In nuclear physics and nuclear chemistry, nuclear fission is a nuclear reaction in which the nucleus of an atom splits into smaller parts , often producing free neutrons and photons , and releasing a tremendous amount of energy...
-related project for the Office of Scientific Research and Development
Office of Scientific Research and Development
The Office of Scientific Research and Development was an agency of the United States federal government created to coordinate scientific research for military purposes during World War II. Arrangements were made for its creation during May 1941, and it was created formally by on June 28, 1941...
(OSRD). During 1943–45 he was a consultant to the Manhattan Project, which built and tested the weapon. He remained chairman of Princeton's physics department throughout the war, and the attendant obligations forced him to participate less actively in the project's later stages.
Smyth advocated within the NDRC for a comprehensive report to be released to the public following the weapon's first use. Vannevar Bush
Vannevar Bush
Vannevar Bush was an American engineer and science administrator known for his work on analog computing, his political role in the development of the atomic bomb as a primary organizer of the Manhattan Project, the founding of Raytheon, and the idea of the memex, an adjustable microfilm viewer...
, who as civilian director of the OSRD oversaw the NDRC, agreed, and selected Smyth to write the report following the recommendation of NDRC chairman James Bryant Conant
James Bryant Conant
James Bryant Conant was a chemist, educational administrator, and government official. As thePresident of Harvard University he reformed it as a research institution.-Biography :...
. Manhattan Project director General Leslie Groves
Leslie Groves
Lieutenant General Leslie Richard Groves, Jr. was a United States Army Corps of Engineers officer who oversaw the construction of the Pentagon and directed the Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb during World War II. As the son of a United States Army chaplain, Groves lived at a...
granted Smyth unlimited access, waiving his usual security-minded insistence on compartmentalization. Smyth wrote what became known as the Smyth Report
Smyth Report
The Smyth Report was the common name given to an administrative history written by physicist Henry DeWolf Smyth about the Allied World War II effort to develop the atomic bomb, the Manhattan Project...
in his office in Princeton's Palmer Laboratory, which later became the Frist Campus Center
Frist Campus Center
Frist Campus Center is a focal point of social life at Princeton University. The campus center is a combination of the former Palmer Physics Lab, and a modern addition completed in 2001. It was endowed with money from the fortune the Frist family Frist Campus Center is a focal point of social life...
.
The report was first released to the press on August 12, 1945, days after the attacks
Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
During the final stages of World War II in 1945, the United States conducted two atomic bombings against the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, the first on August 6, 1945, and the second on August 9, 1945. These two events are the only use of nuclear weapons in war to date.For six months...
on Hiroshima
Hiroshima
is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture, and the largest city in the Chūgoku region of western Honshu, the largest island of Japan. It became best known as the first city in history to be destroyed by a nuclear weapon when the United States Army Air Forces dropped an atomic bomb on it at 8:15 A.M...
and Nagasaki
Nagasaki
is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Nagasaki was founded by the Portuguese in the second half of the 16th century on the site of a small fishing village, formerly part of Nishisonogi District...
. The Government Printing Office could not print enough copies to meet demand, so Smyth persuaded the director of the Princeton University Press
Princeton University Press
-Further reading:* "". Artforum International, 2005.-External links:* * * * *...
to print more. By the end of the Press's 1946 fiscal year it had printed 103,000 copies. Smyth held the copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
to the work to prevent others from claiming it, but he permitted widespread reproduction, essentially releasing it into the public domain
Public domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
. He later reported that "my financial balance from the Smyth Report is minus two dollars, the copyright fee."
In the report, Smyth called it "a semi-technical report which it is hoped men of science in this country can use to help their fellow citizens in reaching wise decisions" in the new Atomic Age
Atomic Age
The Atomic Age, also known as the Atomic Era, is a phrase typically used to delineate the period of history following the detonation of the first nuclear bomb Trinity on July 16, 1945...
. At the urging of his superiors, he removed several discussions of the bomb's moral implications and its creators' unease. Rebecca Press Schwartz argues that Smyth's academic background and his report's security-driven focus on physics at the expense of engineering caused the Smyth Report to promote a public perception of the Manhattan Project as primarily an achievement of physicists.
Postwar
Following the war, Smyth returned full time to his duties at Princeton. He continued to chair the Physics Department and was named the Joseph HenryJoseph Henry
Joseph Henry was an American scientist who served as the first Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, as well as a founding member of the National Institute for the Promotion of Science, a precursor of the Smithsonian Institution. During his lifetime, he was highly regarded...
Professor of Physics in 1946. During this time he spoke and wrote regularly about nuclear energy
Nuclear energy
Nuclear energy usually means the part of the energy of an atomic nucleus, which can be released by fusion or fission or radioactive decay.Nuclear energy also may refer to:*Nuclear binding energy, the energy required to split a nucleus of an atom....
and science policy
Science policy
Science policy is an area of public policy concerned with the policies that affect the conduct of the science and research enterprise, including the funding of science, often in pursuance of other national policy goals such as technological innovation to promote commercial product development,...
and worked to expand the physics department.
In 1949 Smyth resigned as department chairman (and was succeeded by his colleague Shenstone) after President Harry Truman named him to the Atomic Energy Commission
United States Atomic Energy Commission
The United States Atomic Energy Commission was an agency of the United States government established after World War II by Congress to foster and control the peace time development of atomic science and technology. President Harry S...
. He was the commission's only scientist. Following the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
's successful nuclear test in August 1949, the U.S. was considering a crash course to develop a hydrogen bomb. The AEC's nine-member General Advisory Committee, chaired by J. Robert Oppenheimer, recommended unanimously against such a course, and Smyth was one of three of the five AEC commissioners to agree. Smyth urged Truman to endorse international control of nuclear weapons, but Truman decided instead to authorize a hydrogen bomb program.
In 1953 Smyth and John A. Hall served as principal advisors to President Dwight Eisenhower in preparing his Atoms for Peace
Atoms for Peace
"Atoms for Peace" was the title of a speech delivered by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower to the UN General Assembly in New York City on December 8, 1953....
speech to the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
. The IAEA traces its origins to this speech.
In 1954 the AEC was considering rescinding Oppenheimer's security clearance
Security clearance
A security clearance is a status granted to individuals allowing them access to classified information, i.e., state secrets, or to restricted areas after completion of a thorough background check. The term "security clearance" is also sometimes used in private organizations that have a formal...
on suspicion that he was a Communist. Smyth was still the only scientist on the commission. Despite his personal dislike of Oppenheimer and pressure from the commission's chairman, Lewis Strauss, Smyth was the sole commissioner to vote against stripping Oppenheimer's clearance on June 29, 1954. Smyth resigned from the AEC on September 30 of that year out of frustration with Strauss. Eulogizing
Eulogy
A eulogy is a speech or writing in praise of a person or thing, especially one recently deceased or retired. Eulogies may be given as part of funeral services. However, some denominations either discourage or do not permit eulogies at services to maintain respect for traditions...
Oppenheimer in 1967, Smyth said of Oppenheimer's treatment, "Such a wrong can never be righted; such a blot on our history never erased.... We regret that his great work for his country was repaid so shabbily".
Smyth returned to Princeton and served on several high-level administrative committees. This work included advising on the construction of a particle accelerator
Particle accelerator
A particle accelerator is a device that uses electromagnetic fields to propel charged particles to high speeds and to contain them in well-defined beams. An ordinary CRT television set is a simple form of accelerator. There are two basic types: electrostatic and oscillating field accelerators.In...
built jointly with the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
and overseeing Project Matterhorn, which became the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory for plasma physics and nuclear fusion science located on Princeton University's Forrestal Campus in Plainsboro Township, New Jersey. Its primary mission is research into and development of fusion as an...
. He chaired the committee that chose Robert F. Goheen
Robert F. Goheen
Robert Francis Goheen was an American academic, president of Princeton University and United States Ambassador to India.-Biography:...
to succeed Harold W. Dodds
Harold W. Dodds
Harold Willis Dodds was the fifteenth President of Princeton University.-Early life and education:Dodds was born on June 28, 1889 in Utica, Pennsylvania, the son of a professor of Bible Studies at Grove City College...
as President of Princeton. He also served as a consultant on nuclear power to Congress, the AEC, and private industry. He retired from Princeton in 1966.
Smyth was a fellow of the American Physical Society
American Physical Society
The American Physical Society is the world's second largest organization of physicists, behind the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft. The Society publishes more than a dozen scientific journals, including the world renowned Physical Review and Physical Review Letters, and organizes more than 20...
and served as its Vice President in 1956 and its President in 1957. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society
American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society, founded in 1743, and located in Philadelphia, Pa., is an eminent scholarly organization of international reputation, that promotes useful knowledge in the sciences and humanities through excellence in scholarly research, professional meetings, publications,...
in 1947 and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
in 1956. He was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations
Council on Foreign Relations
The Council on Foreign Relations is an American nonprofit nonpartisan membership organization, publisher, and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and international affairs...
.
IAEA representative
PresidentPresident of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
appointed Smyth as the representative of the United States to the IAEA, a position with the rank of Ambassador
Ambassador
An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....
. Smyth assumed the position on June 13, 1961, following confirmation by the U.S. Senate. Smyth shared the organization's stated goal of developing nuclear technology for peaceful purposes. He helped develop what Glenn Seaborg later called "an unprecedented atmosphere of rapport" at the IAEA and played a crucial role in the adoption of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, commonly known as the Non-Proliferation Treaty or NPT, is a landmark international treaty whose objective is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, to promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and to...
in 1970. He retired from the IAEA on August 31, 1970.
In September 1961, Harlan Cleveland
Harlan Cleveland
Harlan Cleveland was an American diplomat, educator, and author. He served as Lyndon Johnson's U.S. Ambassador to NATO, 1965–1969, and earlier as U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs, 1961-1965...
, then Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs, appointed Smyth to chair a committee to review U.S. policy toward the IAEA. The committee's report affirmed the importance of civilian uses of nuclear energy. In 1962 Cleveland again tapped Smyth, this time as an adviser to the State Department on the IAEA. In this position Smyth advocated for a transfer of national nuclear safeguards to the IAEA.
In December 1965, Smyth was elected Chairman of the Board of the Universities Research Association
Universities Research Association
The Universities Research Association, Inc. is a consortium of 87 leading research oriented universities, primarily in the United States, with members in Canada, Japan, and Italy. It is based in Washington, D.C.- History and purpose :...
. During Smyth's tenure, the URA signed a contract with the U.S. government to construct and operate the National Accelerator Laboratory, which later became known as Fermilab
Fermilab
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory , located just outside Batavia, Illinois, near Chicago, is a US Department of Energy national laboratory specializing in high-energy particle physics...
. Construction began, and research programs were planned. Smyth stepped down as chairman in 1970 but remained on the board. He also served on the board of Associated Universities, Inc., which operated the Brookhaven National Laboratory
Brookhaven National Laboratory
Brookhaven National Laboratory , is a United States national laboratory located in Upton, New York on Long Island, and was formally established in 1947 at the site of Camp Upton, a former U.S. Army base...
and National Radio Astronomy Observatory
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a Federally Funded Research and Development Center of the United States National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc for the purpose of radio astronomy...
.
Smyth received the Atoms for Peace Award
Atoms for Peace Award
The Atoms for Peace Award was established in 1955 through a grant of $1,000,000 by the Ford Motor Company Fund. An independent nonprofit corporation was set up to administer the award for the development or application of peaceful nuclear technology. It was created in response to U.S. President...
in 1968 and the State Department's Distinguished Honor Award
Distinguished Honor Award
The Distinguished Honor Award is an award of the United States Department of State. Similar versions of the same award exist for the former U.S. Information Agency, Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, and USAID...
in 1970. In 1972 he became the first recipient of an award for nuclear statesmanship given jointly by the American Nuclear Society
American Nuclear Society
The American Nuclear Society is an international, not-for-profit 501 scientific and educational organization with a membership of approximately 11,000 scientists, engineers, educators, students, and other associate members. Approximately 900 members live outside the United States in 40 countries....
and the Nuclear Energy Institute
Nuclear Energy Institute
The Nuclear Energy Institute is a nuclear industry lobbying group in the United States.- Synopsis :According to its website, the NEI "develops policy on key legislative and regulatory issues affecting the industry. NEI then serves as a unified industry voice before the U.S...
. By 1974, when the award was next given, it had been named the Henry DeWolf Smyth Nuclear Statesman Award.
Later life and legacy
After retiring from the IAEA, Smyth remained active. On the 40th anniversary of the Trinity testTrinity test
Trinity was the code name of the first test of a nuclear weapon. This test was conducted by the United States Army on July 16, 1945, in the Jornada del Muerto desert about 35 miles southeast of Socorro, New Mexico, at the new White Sands Proving Ground, which incorporated the Alamogordo Bombing...
in 1985, he denounced President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
's Strategic Defense Initiative
Strategic Defense Initiative
The Strategic Defense Initiative was proposed by U.S. President Ronald Reagan on March 23, 1983 to use ground and space-based systems to protect the United States from attack by strategic nuclear ballistic missiles. The initiative focused on strategic defense rather than the prior strategic...
and called for joint arms reductions between the United States and the Soviet Union. He died September 11, 1986, in Princeton. The cause was cardiac arrest
Cardiac arrest
Cardiac arrest, is the cessation of normal circulation of the blood due to failure of the heart to contract effectively...
, though he had long battled cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
.
Smyth endowed a chair in the Physics Department in his will
Will (law)
A will or testament is a legal declaration by which a person, the testator, names one or more persons to manage his/her estate and provides for the transfer of his/her property at death...
. The sitting Henry DeWolf Smyth Professor of Physics is Lyman Page
Lyman Page
Lyman Page is the Henry DeWolf Smyth Professor of Physics at Princeton University. He is an expert in observational cosmology and one of the original co-investigators for the WMAP probe that, over the past years, has made the most precise observations yet of the cosmic background radiation, an...
.
External links
- Henry DeWolf Smyth papers at the American Philosophical SocietyAmerican Philosophical SocietyThe American Philosophical Society, founded in 1743, and located in Philadelphia, Pa., is an eminent scholarly organization of international reputation, that promotes useful knowledge in the sciences and humanities through excellence in scholarly research, professional meetings, publications,...
- Henry DeWolf Smyth papers at the Princeton University Library
- The Smyth Report at the Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...