Guide to the Martin Harwit Papers,
1957-1987

Astrophysicist. Martin Harwit served as professor of astronomy at Cornell University and as co-director of the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology Program. In 1987 he was appointed director of the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum. He received a Ph.D. in physics in 1960 from M.I.T. and taught at Cornell since 1962. Harwit's research interests have included observational astronomy, theoretical astrophysics, infrared astronomy, galaxy formation, and the history of astronomy and astrophysics. In the 1960s, he established research groups at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C., and at Cornell that built the first rocket-borne telescopes cooled to liquid helium temperatures. In the mid 1970s, he began studying the history of astronomy and space science as it relates to public policy issues.

Office files, reports, research files, and other materials relating to Harwit's work as a professor of astrophysics at Cornell University and his involvement with numerous organizations in his field. Correspondence files (1964-1987) include Cornell Department of Astronomy correspondence, articles, reports, research proposals, and other materials concerning astronomy, rocketry, astrophysics, telescopes, Hadamard transform spectrometry, infrared spectrometry, research projects, undergraduate and graduate education, and organizations with which Harwit was affiliated, including the Center for Radiophysics and Space Research, the American Physical Society, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, and others. Also, reports, correspondence, proposals, and guidelines pertaining to committees, courses, finances, and activities of the Program in the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, and other offices with which it was associated, such as the National Science Foundation, the Society for the Humanities, and the Cornell Graduate School and Development Office; correspondence, handouts, and brochures of the Common Learning Program at Cornell; agendas, minutes, and correspondence relating to meetings of the Astrophysics Management Operations Working Group; and correspondence, minutes, reports, a budget, and printed materials concerning the Space and Earth Science Advisory Committee and an agreement between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. regarding outer space exploration. There is also a large quantity of grant proposals, regulations, reports, student notebooks from M.I.T., diaries, papers by Harwit's students, and printed materials dealing with Harwit's research proposals, including files on the National Science Foundation, NASA, Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories, Kuiper Airborne Observatory Users' Group, the Shuttle Infrared Telescope Facility, and the Kitt Peak National Observatory. In addition, there are photographs, technical drawings, and oversized blueprints of rockets, telescopes, and other scientific instruments. Includes files on the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology Program, 1984-1986.

I. Correspondence
Boxes 1-8

This series, which is typical of Harwit's earlier office files listed below, consists of an alphabetical subject file followed by miscellaneous files relating to his work for various committees or organizations. Like the other chronological sub-series it includes correspondence, articles, reports, research proposals, and other materials.

Records in Series I concern astronomy; advisory committees on which Harwit served; his organization of workshops and symposia; travel; student advising; and a variety of organizations, including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Center for Radiophysics and Space Research (CRSR), the American Physical Society, and many others.

A. 1986-1987; Advisory Committees, 1963-1987

B. 1981-1985 Files of this period include research materials on planetary spectroscopy, especially the Hadamard Transform Spectrometer; the construction of a liquid helium-cooled baloon-borne telescope with William F. Hoffmann; NASA; CRSR; and annual reports of the Cornell Department of Astronomy.

C. 1977-1981 Included are records pertaining to the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy; annual reports and other items from the Department of Astronomy; and a number of folders dealing with education, particularly in the Cornell University College of Arts and Sciences.

D. 1972-1977 Primarily alphabetical office files.

E. 1969-1972 Included are files on graduate and undergraduate education, including admissions, enrollment, and other academic affairs at Cornell; materials regarding CRSR; and grant information and regulations.

F. 1964-1968 Alphabetical files.

II. Program in the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology
Boxes 8-9

Primarily correspondence, reports, proposals, and guidelines pertaining to the HPST Advisory Committee, Search Committee, courses, colloquia, finance, student fellowships, library collections, and offices with which the program worked closely, including the Graduate School, the Development Office, the National Science Foundation, and the Society for the Humanities.

III. Common Learning Program
Box 9

Correspondence, handouts, and brochures concerning meetings, workshops, and other activites of Cornell's Common Learning Program, which offers undergraduate courses concentrating on social and ethical issues in contemporary society.

IV. Astrophysics Management Operations Working Group
Boxes 9-10

Agendas, minutes, and correspondence relating to meetings of the AMOWG Council, which serves in an advisory capacity to NASA.

V. Space and Earth Science Advisory Committee
Boxes 10-11

Correspondence, minutes, reports, a budget, and printed materials; subjects include SESAC meetings, NASA, an agreement between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. concerning outer space exploration, "Collected Letters and Testimony: Task Force on Scientific Uses of Space Station," and other topics.

VI. Research Projects
Boxes 11-21

Grant proposals, regulations, reports, articles, patents, notebooks, diaries, calendars, and other materials concerning Harwit's research projects on the following topics: time delay studies, Solar Polar Mission, Lear jet aircraft, infrared astronomy, micron spectroscopy, the Hadamard Transform Spectrometer, submillimeter astronomical spectrometry, gravitational studies, telescopes, rockets, cryogenics, and related topics. Organizations represented in this series include the National Science Foundation, NASA, Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories, Kuiper Airborne Observatory Users' Group, Shuttle Infrared Telescope Facility, and the Kitt Peak National Observatory.

VII. Photographs, Drawings, and Blueprints
Box 22 and mapcases

Included are photographs, technical drawings, and oversized blueprints of rockets, telescopes, and other scientific instruments.

VIII. Publications
Box 23