New Director to Make History at Physics Center

College Park, MD, 19 June 2008 - Some scientists study the history of the earth, and some study the history of the study of the history of earth. The American Institute of Physics has just chosen a scholar of this type to be its new director of the Center for History of Physics.

Gregory Good is currently the chair of the Department of History at West Virginia University in Morgantown. He will replace the Center’s longtime director, Spencer Weart, in January 2009. The Center for History of Physics, established in 1965 helps to preserve the history of physics and allied fields and to make the history better known.

The current director is best known for his 2003 book “The Discovery of Global Warming,” which has informed many scientific debates about the history of climate science – when we knew what we know about global climate change. Good will continue the tradition of bringing information into the public sphere with his upcoming book on the history of the discovery of Earth’s magnetic field.

Good has helped local schools write grants for science and environmental education, is a member of the International Commission on the History of Geological Sciences and is director of graduate studies in the History Department at WVU.

“There are a lot of disciplinary history centers, and I plan to work with all the ones I can, and even to work with ones that may seem counterintuitive,” said Good. “One thing I hope to do is to have the Center function as a physical meeting place.” He also hopes to reach out to DC-area universities to coordinate programs and projects with historians of science at those universities, and also throughout the Mid-Atlantic region.

Good received a B.S. in physics from St. Vincent College in Latrobe, PA in 1974, and a PhD in history of science from the University of Toronto, Canada in 1982.

Spencer Weart received a B.A. in physics from Cornell in 1963 and a Ph.D. in physics & astrophysics from the University of Colorado in 1968. He became Director of the Center for History of Physics in 1974.

In honor of Weart’s 35 years of contributions to the history of science, the Avenir Foundation made a gift of three million dollars to endow the Spencer R. Weart Directorship of the Center for History of Physics. This is the largest gift ever given to AIP and establishes the first endowed position at the Institute. “With support like this from our friends,” Weart says, “the new director will be taking the Center in exciting new directions.”

In his retirement Weart plans to continue to write historical works and to assist in the growth of the Center’s Website.