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Edwin Plimpton Adams Papers
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Held at: Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division [Contact Us]
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
Edwin Plimpton Adams taught physics at Princeton from 1903 to 1943.
The collection consists of writings, correspondence, notebooks, and printed matter of Adams relating to Meteor Crater (formerly Coon Mountain) in Arizona and the Elliptic Function Formula. There are typescripts of reports, lectures, and correspondence, including letters by Daniel Moreau Barringer, vice-president of the Meteor Crater Exploration & Mining Company, Henry Norris Russell, F. R. Moulton, and Elihu Thomson. Papers of others include six lectures on mathematical rheology by Markus Reiner.
Unprocessed.
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The contents list was compiled by Rafael Abrahams in June 2010.
Subject
Place
Occupation
- Publisher
- Manuscripts Division
- Finding Aid Date
- 2008
- Access Restrictions
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The collection is open for research.
- Use Restrictions
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Single copies may be made for research purposes. To cite or publish quotations that fall within Fair Use, as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission is required. For instances beyond Fair Use, it is the responsibility of the researcher to determine whether any permissions related to copyright, privacy, publicity, or any other rights are necessary for their intended use of the Library's materials, and to obtain all required permissions from any existing rights holders, if they have not already done so. Princeton University Library's Special Collections does not charge any permission or use fees for the publication of images of materials from our collections, nor does it require researchers to obtain its permission for said use. The department does request that its collections be properly cited and images credited. More detailed information can be found on the Copyright, Credit and Citations Guidelines page on our website. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us through the Ask Us! form.
Collection Inventory
Correspondence and reports concerning Meteor Crater, Arizona, written by Professor E.P. Adams of Princeton Universty, Daniel Moreau Barringer and Quincy Shaw of Meteor Crater Exploration and Mining Company, Dr. F.R. Moulton, Professor Charles P. Olivier of the University of Pennsylvania, Professor Elihu Thomson and others. Letters discuss differing scientific appraoches and calculations employed to determine the size of meteoric mass at Meteor Crater and the resistance offered by Earth's atmosphere and its effect on the speed of falling objects.
Physical Description1 folder
Same as above.
Physical Description1 folder
Professor Adams's notes and calculations on atmospheric resistance to a fallling meteor; on the constant "a" in the Formula for Penetration; on Crater made by 30 Rifle Bullet; the Penetration of Meteorites. Photographs. Tables of Energy Delivered by Meteorites comparing results of scientists, including Adamas, Moulton, Oliver, Thomson and others.
Physical Description1 folder
Letters from Dr. F.R. Moulton to Professor W. Spencer Hutchinson. Printed studies by Daniel Moreau Barringer, Jr. including "Meteor Crater in Northern Central Arizona", 1909; "Further Notes on Meteor Crater, Arizona", 1914; "Further Notes on Meteor Crater in Northern Central Arizona (No. 2)", 1924; "The Meteorite Crater of Arizona", 1927; "A New Meteor Crater", 1928; and "A Discussion of the Origin of the Craters and Other Features of the Lunar Surface", undated. Printed study titled "The Tilden Meteorites" by A.R. Crook and O.C. Farrington, 1930. Issue of Science Magazine, May 10 1929 (includes article by Herman L. Fairchild of the University of Rochester titled "Meteor Crater Exploration.")
Physical Description1 folder
Handwritten notes and calculations, undated. Printed copy of "Uber Das Gravitationsfeld Eines Massenpunktes Nach Der Einsteinschen Theorie" by K. Schwarzchild, 1918. Three printed scientific works by Professor A. Press including "Thermodynamic Integrating Factors", 1927; "Consequences of a Matrix Mechanics and a Radiating Harmonic Oscillator Without the Quantum Postulate", 1927; and "The Classical Reasonableness of Quantum Theory and Simple Operative Solutions of Schrodinger's Equation", 1928; include letters of correspondence from Press, Adams, and others. Correspondence from Seyuan Shu, Ph.D. and a printed copy of his work "Critical Studies on the Theory of Relativity", 1942.
Physical Description1 folder
Professional correspondence of Professor Adams. Subject matter includes conformal projecion; the consideration of Professor W. Gordon for an International Rockefeller Fellowship; the principle of steepest descents; the elliptical function formula and the publication of "Smithsonian Mathematical Formulae and Tables of Elliptic Functions"; contribution to the Standard Handbook for Electrical Engineers.
Physical Description1 folder
Typed and printed works including "The Hall effect", "The Peltier effect", "Thermo-Electric Action and Thermal Conduction in Metals", 1918, and "Inferences From the Hypothesis of Dual Electric Conduction: The Thomson Effect", 1920, by Edwin H. Hall; "A New Method of Calibrating Thermo-Electric Elements for Use in the Measurement of High Temperature" by E.L. Nichols, 1900; "Electrical Properties of Alakali Metals and of Rhodium and Irridium" by Broniewski and Hackspill, 1911; "New Phenomena Connected With Thermoelectricity and Conductivity of Metals" by C. Benedicks, 1916; "Report on the Present State of Investigations by the Physicists of Holland" by L.L. Campbell; "The Thermoelectric Power of Pure Metals" by H. Pealbon, 1920; "Report on Recent German Literature", "Thermoelectric Power at Low Temperatures" and "Influence of Pressure on Electrical Conductivity", unattributed, possibly by Adams.
Physical Description1 folder
Printed works including "The Potential of Ring-Shaped Discs" by Adams; "Calculation of Mathematical Tables" by the British Association, 1924-1926. Notes and calculations on zonal harmonics. Correspondence concerning the Smithsonian Institution's issuing of a set of tables of indefinite integrals.
Physical Description1 folder
Notes and calculations. Professional correspondence from Edwin H. Hall concerning the Committee of the National Research Council and topics in thermoelectricity. Typed copy of "The Two-Dimensional 'Ice-Pail'" by Adams, 1929, with additional notes and calculations.
Physical Description1 folder
6 typed lectures titled "Introduction to Mathematical Rheology" given by Markus Reiner at Princeton University, 1932. Professional correspondence including requests for work on the flow of a liquid around a parallelopiped; a typed work titled "The Values of the Theory of the Potential to the Corrosion Engineer" by Charles Kasper, 1943; requests from DuPont for work on two problems in connection with a war project; letters from the American Institute of Electrical Engineers and others concerning the publication of a series of lectures by Adams on Radioactivity, 1913. Printed works including "Propagation of Long Electrical Waves" by M.I. Pupin, 1899; sections of "Townsend on Transofrmers" and "Pupin on Wave Transmission over Cables and Long-Distance Air-Lines", and "A New Trandmission Dynamometer" by W. Elewell Goldsborough, 1900. Handwritten notes and calculations on Electrical Waves and Oscillations, 1910.
Physical Description1 folder
Notes, calculations, drawings and correspondence concerning elliptic functions and the Smithsonian Institution's publication of manuscript written by Adams, subsequently titled "Smithsonian Mathematical Formulae and Tables of Elliptic Functions", 1922.
Physical Description1 folder
5 notebooks, titled "Murray-Diff. Equations No. 1 pp 1-98"; "Differential Equation Lectures by Professor Bocher. May 1900"; "Quaternions II"; "Quaternions III"; and untitled containing notes and calculations.
Physical Description1 box
Notebook with notes and calculations, includes typed work on the theory of the general form of the mechanical paths and the "Theory of General Transformations"
Physical Description1 folder
Typed document titled "Aeronautical Reports: Flow and Force Equations for a Body Revolving in a Fluid" by. A.F. Zahm.
Physical Description1 folder
Notebook titled "Magnetism-Voigt" containing notes and calculations.
Physical Description1 folder