History Programs

The Center for History of Physics at the American Institute of Physics documents, investigates, and shares the nature and origin of developments in modern physics and its impact on society. The Center achieves this through curating and presenting online exhibits, furnishing grants-in-aid to researchers in the history of science, publishing articles and books, conducting surveys and oral history interviews to build upon its archive of over 1,500 recorded interviews, hosting conferences, and participating in national and international conferences and history projects.

Center for the History of Physics Endowment Fund

When you provide aid to the History Programs Endowment, you are supporting not only the ongoing work of the Center for History of Physics but, more importantly, investing in the future of this work to ensure the preservation of the Center’s mission and its expansive collection.

The endowment is strategically vital in helping the Center build its public programs that will be needed to connect scholars, oral histories and other archives to the public in years to come, keeping history alive and relevant in the public dialog. The endowment will also fuel the engine of ongoing research and educational outreach.

Center for the History of Physics Annual Fund

The Center for History of Physics focuses on the production and editing of oral histories, capturing countless stories of physicists and others who have been integral to the evolution of scientific research and discovery. With over 1,500 recorded interviews in its archives, the Center is a keeper of history and offers insights into the legacy of personal stories and perspectives that offer insight into historic episodes like the Manhattan Project or the search for gravitational waves.

Your gift to the Center’s Annual Fund helps underwrite the Center’s operating expenses. From the oral histories stored at the Center of the History of Physics, to its voluminous archives of scientific correspondence, to the Emilio Segrè Visual Archives, it would be impossible to write the history of modern physics without turning to these treasured archives.

Trimble Lecture Fund

Established initially through a generous gift from Dr. Virginia Trimble to honor her father, Dr. Lyne Starling Trimble (1912–1992), this endowed fund supports a unique lecture series that has grown since its inception. Gifts to the Trimble Fund make possible the ongoing engagement of noted scholars and lecturers who not only address but interact with audiences in person and more recently online in the ongoing exploration of physics and related sciences and their societal relevance to past and future generations.