MS.319

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Special Collections

Milton S. Eisenhower Library

The Johns Hopkins University

3400 N. Charles St.

Baltimore, MD 21218

(410) 516-8348

Minkowski (Jan Michael), 1916-1991

Papers (1946-1987)

Ms. 319

Size: 6.7 linear ft.

4 document boxes, 4 records center

boxes

Processed: February 1992

By Joan Grattan

Provenance: The papers were given to the

University by Anne Shreve

Minkowski, January 1992.

Access: Access to this collection is

unrestricted with the exception of

one records center box.

Permission Permission to publish material from this

collection must be requested in writing

from the Manuscripts Librarian at the

address above.

Citation: Jan Michael Minkowski Papers Ms. 319

Special Collections,

Milton S. Eisenhower Library,

The Johns Hopkins University

Table of Contents

Ms. 319

Provenance.....................................................1

Biographical Note............................................ 1

Scope and Content Note....................................... 2

Series Description

Series 1: Student Papers, 1946-1948................... 3

Series 2: Course Materials, 1963-1987................. 3

Series 3: Carlyle Barton Laboratory, 1960-1974........ 4

Series 4: Writings, 1954-1976......................... 5

Container List............................................... 6

Index........................................................ 12

Minkowski, (Jan Michael) 1916-1991

Papers (1946-1987)

Ms. 319

Provenance

The Papers were given to the University by Mrs. Anne Shreve

Minkowski, January 1992. The accession number is 91-92.23.

Biographical Note

Jan Michael Minkowski was born March 7, 1916 in Zurich, Switzerland

and spent his childhood years in Warsaw, Poland. He graduated from

King Batory's School in 1934. In 1934-35 he received his reserve

training in the Polish Army and afterwards entered the Warsaw

Institute of Technology to study electrical engineering.

Minkowski's graduate work was delayed by the outbreak of World War

II in Europe. As a reservist in the cavalry signal corps of the

Polish army, Minkowski was mobilized and served as 1st lieutenant

in the Polish army from 1939-1945. Minkowski was captured by the

Russians and put to work in a labor camp in the vicinity of

Smolensk. In an exchange of prisoners, Minkowski was turned over

to the German army and kept in prisoner of war camps until 1945

when he was liberated in Bavaria by the U.S. Army.

Minkowski worked for a time for the YMCA in Germany aiding other

displaced persons and those recently liberated from concentration

camps. When he was able to collect the proper personal

documentation, he left for Switzerland. In 1946, he was admitted

to the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (E.T.H.) Department of

Mathematics and Physics. Years later, Minkowski recalled that his

life "acquired a certain stability" after his admission to the

E.T.H. Minkowski studied experimental physics with Professor Paul

Scherrer and theoretical physics with the Nobel Prize recipient,

Wolfgang Pauli. In 1949, Minkowski received the degree of

Diplomierter Physiker from the E.T.H. and stayed on for the

following year as an assistant at the Institute for Theoretical

Physics.

In 1950, Minkowski emigrated to the United States and became a

member of the research division of the Erie Resistor Corporation in

Erie, PA. In 1951, he came to Baltimore and joined the Radiation

Laboratory (later the Carlyle Barton Laboratory) of The Johns

Hopkins University. In 1961, he was appointed lecturer in the

Electrical Engineering Department (now the Department of Electrical

and Computer Engineering) of the University. He completed his

Ph.D. at JHU in 1963. He was appointed associate professor in

1981. He taught courses in quantum optics and optical information

processes until his retirement in 1987 at which time he became

Professor Emeritus. Dr. Minkowski's later research included the

border area between information theory and quantum theory. He was

the owner of 7 patents and the author of more than 30 journal

articles. Jan Minkowski died February 5, 1991.
In 1990, Professor Minkowski began dictating his memoirs to his

wife, Anne Shreve Minkowski. Mrs. Minkowski assumed responsibility

for editing her husband's narrative and later published the

material under the title, Through Three Wars: The Memoirs of Jan

Michael Minkowski. The volume is largely a record of Minkowski's

early life with his family in Warsaw and a telling of the

extraordinary experiences he endured during the war years in

Europe, 1938-1945. Mrs. Minkowski presented a copy of Through

Three Wars to the University along with the gift of Professor

Minkowski's papers in 1992. The volume is to be cataloged for the

collections of the Milton S, Eisenhower Library.

Scope and Content Notes

The papers of Johns Hopkins University professor, Jan Michael

Minkowski, document his demanding course work and research at the

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, 1946-1948, and his teaching

and research career at Hopkins, 1960-1987. Along with his student

papers are lecture notes, and other course material from classes

taught by Dr. Minkowski in the Department of Electrical and

Computer Engineering. Include are notes and contract information

from Dr. Minkowski's position as research scientist in the

Radiation Laboratory and later, Head of Physical Research, the

Carlyle Barton laboratory (1952-1970). Also in the collection are

reprints of his journal articles, and a few non-published writings.

The papers largely detail Dr. Minkowski's classroom teaching and

his research in the fields of solid state physics, quantum optics,

and microwaves. Dr. Minkowski's professional work is well

documented, but his personal life is not represented in the

collection.

The papers have been artificially arranged into four series -

Series I: Student Papers; Series II: Course Material; Series III:

Carlyle Barton Laboratory; Series IV: Writings. Whenever possible,

Dr. Minkowski's files have been left intact and his subject

headings retained. The bulk of the material devoted to classes

taught at the University has been grouped by course title and

arranged chronologically. Most of the collection is in English

with the exception of Dr. Minkowski's student paper from the Swiss

Federal Institute of Technology (E.T.H.) which are in German. One

part of the collection, Series 2 Box 7, will remain closed because

of the private nature of student work and recommendations for

students prepared by Dr. Minkowski.

Final items in the collection are specific to Dr. Minkowski's

laboratory work: slides, quartz tapers, beryl tapers, sapphire

tapers, S-band window, maser crystals, and other unidentified

crystals and metals.

A complete listing of items in the collection can be found in the

Container list.

Series Description

Series 1: Student Papers, 1946-1948 3 document boxes

Arranged by subject

In Series 1: Student Papers are Dr. Minkowski's notebooks,

laboratory manuals, class notes, and exercises in problem solving

from his graduate work in Mathematics and Physics at the Swiss

Federal Institute of Technology (E.T.H.). Two prominent physicists

recognized for their contributions to modern physics are

represented in this series. Dr. Minkowski studied theoretical

physics with Professor Wolfgang Pauli who received the Nobel Prize

in physics in 1945 for his Exclusion Principle and contributions to

the development of quantum theory. Dr. Pauli acted as research

advisor for Minkowski's dissertation (the Diplomarbeit). In

experimental physics , Minkowski studied with Professor Paul

Scherrer who is known for the Debye-Scherrer X-ray Method used in

the crystallography of poly-crystalline materials. Approximately

thirty notebooks and manuals, arranged by subject are included in

the series. Subjects include optics and electronics, physics,

geometry, mechanics, and calculus. These papers are written in

German. Other prominent mathematicians with whom Dr. Minkowski

studied at E.T.H. are Eduard L. Stiefel, Ferdinand Gonseth, Albert

Pfluger, and Richard Courant. Materials from these classes are

included in Series I.

Of interest in the series are four photocopies of letters of

Professor Pauli and Professor Arnold Sommerfeld, 1948-1956.

(Sommerfeld was Pauli's teacher in Munich and the author of

textbooks in theoretical physics). Minkowski credited Sommerfeld's

letter of November 31, 1950 in which he praised Minkowski's work

with opening doors to "the physics establishment on the USA." A

transcript of Minkowski's courses, exercises, and laboratories at

E.T.H. completes the series.

Series 2: Course Materials, 1963-1987 3 records center boxes

Arranged by subject 1 black box

Dr. Minkowski was appointed lecturer in the Electrical and Computer

Engineering Department of The Johns Hopkins University in 1961.

After a distinguished career during which he was well regarded by

students and colleagues, he retires in 1987 as Professor Emeritus.

In Series 2: Course Material, are Dr. Minkowski's files from

classes he taught at the University. The largest amount of

material relates to the following classes- Quantum Electronics;

Fields, Matter and Waves; Lasers & Optical Information Processing;

Electricity and Magnetism.

In the files are examples of assignments, examinations, lecture

notes, calculations, exercises, and some reference material. Notes

not easily identified for a specific class have been assigned a

heading of "lecture notes" and some chronological order has been

established. Some Professional correspondence is contained along

with students' addresses and a very small amount of secondary

material related to the Department of Electrical Engineering:

equipment orders, departmental memos, and university publications.

Also in Series 2 are objects (mostly encased in test tubes and

jars) from Dr. Minkowski's laboratory work including slides,

tapers, and crystals.

Box 7 of Series 2 is closed to researchers because of personal

nature of the files. Several files contain recommendations written

by Dr. Minkowski. In Box 7 are also thesis proposals, course

evaluations , and term papers.

Series 3: Carlyle Barton laboratory, 1960-1974 .05 document box

Arranged by Contract Number, Title.

Dr. Minkowski joined the Radiation Laboratory, a branch of the

University which did research for the U.S. Air Force, in 1952. As

a research scientist, he worked in electro-magnetics, solid state

physics, microwaves, masers, lasers, coherent light, and quantum

optics. In 1962, the laboratory moved from St. Paul St. to the

Homewood campus, renamed the Carlyle Barton Laboratory, and housed

in Barton Hall. (The Laboratory closed in 1970 and the Department

of Electrical Engineering took over the building.) Between 1958-

1964, Dr. Minkowski was head of the physical research group. Dr.

Minkowski worked on several Air Force contracts during his

association with the laboratory. The bulk of the material in Series

3 is from three contracts: (1) Contract F33615-67-C-1169 "Problem

Areas in Optical Communications" (2) Contract F336155-69-R-1712

"Quantum Limitation on Optical Communications" (3) Contract F33615-

69-R-1285 "Quantum Limitations on Optical Communications."

In Series 3 are Dr. Minkowski's folders from 1960-1974 containing

progress reports, financial statements, evaluations, and research

material. Minkowski's papers after the closing of the Laboratory

in 1970 describe efforts to complete written technical reports and

to complete the final evaluations and summaries required by the

government.

Final items in the series are ten technical reports produced at the

Carlyle Barton Laboratory, mostly written by research scientists

other than Dr. Minkowski. The reports 1960-1970, are listed by

contract number and title and provide an overview of the ongoing

research and study of the Laboratory.

Series 4: Writings, 1954-1976 .05 document box

Arranged chronologically by title.

In Series 4: Writings are examples of Dr. Minkowski's published

writings in major scientific journals including Journal of Applied

Physics Review, Photochemistry and Photobiology, and AIAA Journal.

The writings reflect his research interests in microwaves, optics,

and solid state physics. Some unpublished work is included here

also along with Dr. Minkowski's notes, calculations, and examples

of math/physics problems. A long paper, "Introduction to Quantum

Mechanics"is contained in Series 4, possibly intended to form part

of a textbook for classroom use. Completing Series 4 are requests

from colleagues for reprints of published articles.

Container List

Ms. 319

Box 1 Series 1: Student Papers

Transcript of courses, E.T.H.

Pauli- Sommerfeld

Notes, Courses with Dr. (Wolfgang) Pauli 1947-1948:

Analytische Dynamik

Differential der Physik

Relativity

Class Manuals, Dr. Pauli:

Optik und Elektronentheorie

Statistische Mechanik

elektrodynamik

Class Manuals, Dr. (Paul) Scherrer:

Physik I

Physik II

Class Manual, Dr. (Eduard) Stiefel:

Vektorielle Geometrie

Box 2

Projective Kollios, 1947

Algebra

Topologische Raume, 1947-1948

Physik-der tiefen temperaturen, Prof. Wolfe

Vektorrechnung, Prof. (Ferdinand) Gonseth, 1946-1947

Kombinatorik, Prof. Eckmann, 1948

Funktionentheorie, Prof. (Albert) Pfluger, 1946

Funktionentheirie, Professors Hurwitz and (Richard) Courant

Theory of Numbers, Prof. Eckmann

Notes

Box 3

Notebooks, Class books:

Analytische Funktionen

Analytische Mechanik

Calcul differentiel et integral

Funktionetheorie I

Funktionetheorie II

Geometrie Projective I

Geometrie Projective II

Physik

Physikubungen

Quanten- mechanik

Theoretische Physik

šbungen in theoretischer Physik

šbungen Gerade Reihen

šbungen Ungerade Reihen

E.T.H.-IX 4.Sem.

E.T.H. Physics, 1946-1947

E.T.H. Physikalisches Praktikum, 1947

E.T.H., n.d.

E.T.H.,n.d.

Box 4 Series 2: Course Material

Addresses

Advertisement, Corning, GE

Antennas, Lasers

Correspondence, 1969-1973

Electrical Engineering Dept.

4 level - Maser

Int. School of Physics "Enrico Fermi," 1967

"Oddities"

Professional correspondence, 1968-1975

Solid State Fundamentals, 1968-

Vacuum Coating Equipment

Who Borrowed What

Exams, Notes, 1970-1981

Exams, Notes, 1974-1977

Exams, Notes, 1978-1986

Exams, Assignments, Notes, 1977-1985

Graduate Exams, 1974, 1980

Lecture Notes:

1977-1978

1978-1981

1979

1981

1984-1985

Laser Theory & Quantum Optics, Spring 1985

Little Quantum Electronics,

Microwaves, 1965-1970

Optics & Quantum Electronics, 1978

Box 4

(Cont.)

Lecture Notes:

Photoelectric Counting

Quantum Electronics & Optical Communications

Quantum Electronics

Quantum Electronics: 1963-1964

Quantum electronics: 1966

1966, 1976

1976-1977

Box 5

Lecture Notes, Exams, Assignments, Course Descriptions-

Information and Quantum theories

Information and Quantum Theories, 1981

Fields, Matter and Waves: 1974-1975

1974-1975

1978-1979

1979-1980

1982-1983

1984-1985

Lasers and Optical Information Processing:

1977-1978

1978-1980

1980

1981-1982

1983

1983-1984

1985-1986

1986

Electricity and Magnetism: 1975-1987

1976-1979

1977-1978

1978-1979

1979-1980

Box 5

(Cont.)

Electricity and Magetism:

1980-1981

1981-1982

1982-1983

1983-1984

1986-1987

Box 6

Items from Dr. Minkowski's laboratory including slides,

quartz tapers, beryl tapers, sapphire tapers, S-band window,

maser crystals, and other examples of crystals and metal.

Box 7 Closed

Term papers, Abstracts

Dissertation Reports, 1965-1973

Graduate Examinations, 1968-

Recommendations for students

Student term papers

Student course evaluations, 1981

Thesis proposals

Dissertations, Romald Minarik

Abraham Singer

Box 8 Series 3: Carlyle Barton Laboratory

Radiation Laboratory (1958) Rating Guide

Carlyle Barton Laboratory -

(1963-1966): Contract AF33(615)-1532

"Problem Areas in Optical Communications"-

(1966-1971): Contract F33615-67-C-1169-Research

Contract Status reports

(1967-1968): Contract F33615-67-C-1169

"Quantum Limitation on Optical Communications" -

(1968-1969): Contract F 33615-69-R-1712 - Request

for Proposal

(1968): Contract F33615-69-R-1712 - Response to

Request

Box 8

(Cont.)

"Quantum Limitation on Optical Communications" -

(1969): Contract F33615-69-R-1285

(1969-1970): Contract F33615-69-R-1285

(1969-1974): Contract F33615-69-R-1285

Technical Reports produced at the Carlyle Barton

Laboratory:

1960 - AF-80 "Cross-Relaxation in Dilute Paramagnetic

Systems"

1962- AF-97 "Scattering and Absorption of Electeomagnetic

Radiation by Matter"

1965 - " Infrared Quantum Counters"

1966 - AFAL-TR-66-341 " Performance of Doubly Doped Beryl

in a Millimeter Wave Maser Scheme."

1966 - AFAL-TR-66-214 "Study of Problem Areas in Optical

Communications"

1967 - "Paramagnetic Relaxation"

1969 - AFAL-TR-68-375 "Quantum Limitation on Optical

Communications"

1970 - AFAL-TR-70-54 "Experimental Results of Beating

Spontaneously Emitted and Laser Light"

"Multi-Phonon Spontaneous Emission in Paramagnetic

Crystals"

"Liquid Helium Cryostat for a Millimeter Wave

Transmission System."

Series 4: Writings

Published Writings -

n.d. "Application of Exterior Calculus to Problems in

Quantum Optics."

n.d. "Detection-Avoidance System."

n.d. "Estimation of Optical Signal Parameters by Measurement

of Coherence Functions."

n.d. "Statistical Theory of Complementary Random Variables."

1954 "Present Status of the Atomic Constants."

1955 "Cross Section of Colinear Arrays at Normal Incidence"

1960 "Cross Relaxation Effect of Chromium and Tron in

K3(Co,Cr,Fe)(Cn)6."

1961 "Millimeter Wave Solid State Masers."

Box 8

(Cont.)

1968 "Three-Spin Cross Relaxation in Cr3+:K3CO(CN)6"

1969 "Quantum Limitation on Optical Communications."

1970 "Application of Information Entropy to the Analysis of

Quantum Limited Systems."

1970 "On the Possibility of Infrared Laser-Induced

Chemistry."

1973 "Corrections to Waveguide-Probe Measurement of Plasma

Temperature"

1973 "Determination of Electron Temperature of Shock-Heated

Plasma from Microwave Measurements."

1973 "Spatial Properties of Quasi-Stationary Gaussian

Optical Fields."

1973 "Suitability of the Waveguide Probe technique for

Measuring Electron Plasma Temperature."

1974 "Basic Limitation in Microwave Measurement of Plasma

Temperature."

1974 "Effect of Therman Boundary Layer on RF Measurement of

Plasma Parameters."

1974 "Radiation-Temperature Reference Level in Waveguide

Probe Measurement of Electron Plasma Temperature."

1974 "Role of Plasma Boundary Conditions in the Comparison

of Electron Plasma Temperatures."

1975 "On the Spatial Coherence of Laser Beams"

1975 "Technique for Absolute Measurement of Noise Power at

All Radio Frequencies."

1976 "Bandwidth-Substitution Technique for Absolute

Measurement of Power at All Radio Frequences."

1976 "Incremental Technique for Absolute Measurement of

Coherent Power at Millimeter and Submillimeter

Wavelengths."

Unpublished Writings -

Application of Exterior Calculus to Problem in Quantum Optics

(1974)

Introduction to Quantum Mechanics

Optical Processing

Quantum Mechanical Harmonic Osillator

Quantum Optics and Exterior Calculus

Requests for reprints

Index

Ms. 319

Carlyle Barton Laboratory

Courant, Richard

Eckmann, Professor

Electricity and Magnetism

Erie Resistor Corporation

Fields, Manner and Waves

Gonseth, Ferdinand

Information and Quantum Theories

Johns Hopkins University

Johns Hopkins University. Dept. of Eletrical Engineering

Laser and Optical Information Progressing

Minkowski, Anne Shreve

Minkowski, Jan Michael

Pauli, Wolfgang

Pfluger, Albert

Quantum Electrinics

Radiation Laboratory

Sherrer, Paul

Sommerfeld, Arnold

Stiefel, Eduard L.

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (E.T.H.)

Through Three Wars: The Memoirs of

Jan Michael Minkowski

U.S. Air Force

Warsaw Institute of technology

Wolfe, Professor