Title: Henry DeWolf Smyth papers, 1921-1986
ID: 01/MSS00125
Primary Creator: Smyth, Henry DeWolf (1898-1986)
Extent: 0.5 Cubic Feet
Arrangement:
Arranged in two series:
1. Correspondence, 1921-1962. Arranged alphabetically by correspondent, thereunder arranged chronologically.
2. Publications and Ephemera, 1945-1986. Arranged in the following order: photographs; works by Smyth, Henry DeWolf; and ephemera and works of others; thereunder arranged chronologically.
Date Acquired: 03/11/2019
Subjects: Nuclear physicists -- United States
Forms of Material: Letters
Languages: English
Henry DeWolf Smyth (1898-1986) was an American physicist known for his work on atomic energy and his academic career at Princeton University. Smyth served as a consultant for the Manhattan Project, the US military project that developed the first nuclear weapons, from 1943 to 1945. He authored the government’s official report on the atomic bomb, popularly known as the “Smyth Report.” After the war, Smyth served as a US Representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and a commissioner on the US Atomic Energy Commission.
The bulk of the collection consists of correspondence to and from Smyth. The majority of the correspondence dates from the 1920s and 1930s and is between Smyth and Mary de Coningh, his future wife, and between Smyth and his parents, Charles Henry Smyth Jr. and Ruth Anne Smyth (née Phelps). The collection also contains photographs, pamphlets that include articles by Smyth, broadsides, and articles about Smyth.
Henry DeWolf Smyth was born in Clinton, New York, on May 1, 1898, to geologist Charles Henry Smyth Jr. and Ruth Anne Smyth (née Phelps). The family moved to Princeton, New Jersey, in 1905, when Charles Henry Smyth joined the faculty at Princeton University. Henry DeWolf Smyth received a PhD in Physics from Princeton in 1921. In 1923, he received a second doctoral degree from the University of Cambridge, where renowned physicist Ernest Rutherford served as his doctoral advisor. Smyth became a faculty member at Princeton in 1924. He married Mary de Coningh in 1936.
During World War II, Smyth was a member of the National Defense Research Committee’s Uranium Section. He served as a consultant on the Manhattan Project from 1943 to 1945. In anticipation of the US bombings of Japan in August 1945, General Leslie Groves appointed Smyth to write the federal government’s official report on the development of atomic bombs. “Atomic Energy for Military Purposes,” popularly known as the “Smyth Report,” was released to the public on August 12, 1945, only days after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The report was widely disseminated throughout the US to inform the American public about atomic weapons.
After the war, Smyth continued to promote openness regarding atomic energy. He served as a commissioner on the US Atomic Energy Commission from 1949 to 1954 and was the US Representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency from 1961 to 1970. Smyth died at his home in Princeton on September 11, 1986, at the age of 88.
Sources:
Atomic Heritage Foundation, "Henry DeWolf Smyth," n.d.
Atomic Heritage Foundation, "Secrecy Unveiled – 1945," 2014.
McQuiston, John T., "Dr. Henry Smyth, Ex-Member of Atom Panel," The New York Times, 1986.
Nuclear Princeton, "Atomic Energy for Military Purposes (Smyth Report)," n.d.
Nuclear Princeton, "Henry DeWolf Smyth (1898-1986)," n.d.
Weber, Tommy, "Hard-Headed Physicist; Henry DeWolf Smyth," The New York Times, 1962.
Repository: Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Access Restrictions: The collection is open for research.
Use Restrictions:
This collection is the physical property of the Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Intellectual property rights, including copyright, may reside with the materials' creator(s) or their heirs.
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Preferred Citation: Henry DeWolf Smyth papers, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
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