The History of Physics at the University of Michigan

Above: Harrison Randall with infrared spectrograph

From construction in 1888 of the West Physics Building, the first of its type in the nation, to the recent construction of a new, state of the art laboratory, Michigan has been home to a proud history of world-leading physics education and research.

In the 1910s, Harrison M. Randall began building a world-class program in infrared spectroscopy, placing the department in an outstanding position for the upcoming revolution of modern physics: quantum mechanics. Over the next thirty years, from Dennison's discovery of proton spin; Uhlenbeck and Kopinski's creation of the K-U theory of nuclear structure; Crane's first-time measurement of the magnetic moment of the free electron; to the building of the first 36-inch cyclotron and the invention of the racetrack synchrotron, Michigan firmly established itself as a world-leader in physics research.

In the 1950s, Michigan developed a strong program in high-energy physics, which took its place alongside traditionally strong programs in atomic and nuclear physics; in the 1960s Franken and Sands established the renowned "resonance group" in Randall Laboratory. From the 1950s to the 1970s, Michigan continued its tradition as a leader in world physics; following are a sample of the significant advances in physics to take place at Michigan in this time: the invention of coherent fiber optics; Nobel physicist Glaser's invention of the bubble chamber; the discovery of optical harmonics--the first non-linear optical phenomenon; the development of the idea of colliding particle beams; the first achievement of polarization of particle beams at high energies; the discovery of anomalous spin effects in proton collisions and resulting challenge to fundamental principles of quantum mechanics; and the discovery of the principles of chain folding in macromolecules.

With the beginning of the 1980s, we saw positronium studies at Michigan that tested fundamental concepts of quantum electrodynamics, and Rich's subsequent invention of the positron microscope; Sander and Witten's groundbreaking development of the diffusion-limited aggregation theory of pattern formation--with potential applications in fields from microelectronics and medicine; Merlin and Clarke's discovery of Fibonacci-series superlattices; the discovery of neutrinos from Supernova 1987A, which confirmed theories of stellar collapse; leading roles in both the D0 and CDF experiments to verify existence of the Top Quark; and the establishment, through the Applied Physics program, of the NSF Science and Technology Center in Ultrafast Optics.

For a closer look at some of the notable historic events of the UM Department of Physics, please view our gallery of selected images.

You may also view a timeline of the early history of the department (1888 - 1937) (bandwidth alert: this is a huge GIF file: 670K, 2700 x 1600 pixels).