Henry DeWolf Smyth papers, 1921-1986 | Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

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.

Nuclear physicists -- United States

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.

The Rare Book & Manuscript Library's reproduction and publication policies are available here. The library welcomes requests for reproductions made from works in our collections, though restrictions may apply to certain materials. Please contact the library with any questions.

Preferred Citation: Henry DeWolf Smyth papers, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Box and Folder Listing

Series 2: Publications and Ephemera

Box 1

Folder 13: Three photographs of Henry DeWolf Smyth, 1948, undated

Folder 14: “Confirmation of Gordon E. Dean and Henry DeWolf Smyth as Members of the Atomic Energy Commission” pamphlet, 1949

Includes statements by Gordon E. Dean and Henry DeWolf Smyth.

Folder 15: Three Tributes to J. Robert Oppenheimer pamphlet, 1967

Includes contributions by Hans A. Bethe; Henry DeWolf Smyth; and George Kennan.

Folder 16: The Princeton University Library Chronicle offprint pamphlet (v. 37, no. 3), 1976

Includes articles “The ‘Smyth Report’” by Henry DeWolf Smyth; “The Publishing History of the ‘Smyth Report’” by Datus C. Smith Jr.; and “The ‘Smyth Report’: A Descriptive Check List” by Earle E. Coleman.

Folder 17: Broadside on the publication of the Smyth Report, 1945

Folder 18: Broadside for Henry DeWolf Smyth lecture on atomic energy, Mercer County chapter of the New Jersey Independent Citizen’s League, 1946

Folder 19: Joseph Henry, “Biographical Material: Henry DeWolf Smith” article, 1947

Folder 20: Burr Van Atta, “Henry DeWolf Smyth, 88, physicist” obituary, 1986