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The papers of American theoretical physicist, professor, and Nobel laureate Steven
Weinberg consist of research files, notes and calculations,
correspondence, typescript drafts (including electronic files), page proofs, lecture
slides, class lecture notes, royalty statements, and other
materials relating to his research, publications, lectures, and teaching. The papers
date from 1933 to 2021 (bulk 1980-2021), with copies of
published versions of works by others dating from 1897, and are arranged in five series:
I. Subject Files, 1974-2021; II. Books and Publishing Files,
1963-2021; III. Teaching Files, 1975-2021; IV. Personal Materials, 1933-2021; and
V. Louise Weinberg, 1968-2021. The Index of Correspondents in this
finding aid contains box and folder locations for all correspondence in the collection.
The Index of Manuscript Works by Others contains box and
folder locations for all manuscript works by others except for works co-authored by
Weinberg, which are described in the Container List. |
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Series I. Subject Files forms the bulk of the papers, with 124.5 document boxes of files containing preprints,
reports, and published versions of
journal articles by Weinberg and others; drafts by Weinberg and others; notes; class
lecture notes; lecture slides; referee's reports, publication
submission information, and correspondence associated with Weinberg's work. The majority
of the files reflect Weinberg's interests in particle
physics, unification of fundamental interactions, and cosmology. Subject files are
related to Weinberg's research, papers, talks, teaching, books,
essays, organizations, awards, and general interest topics. Because most of the files
date from 1980 on, they represent his later work rather than
his early work leading up to his 1967 electroweak theory. Weinberg's file titles have
been retained (although acronyms, abbreviations, and symbols
have been spelled out) and are indicated by single quotes. |
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The files have been arranged in alphabetical order by the Ransom Center, but files
about the same subject can be scattered throughout the series.
For example, the file titled 'Quantum Cosmic Correlation' is filed under the letter
Q, but the file titled 'Cosmological Correlations' is filed
under the letter C. Most files contain reports, preprints, and published versions
of journal articles by other scientists; some of these have
markings or annotations by Weinberg, and these are noted in folder descriptions. Enclosure
notes or inscriptions written to Weinberg by the author
are not noted unless they are extensive, in which case they are included in the Index
of Correspondents at the end of this finding aid. |
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Although Weinberg's early work leading to his electroweak unification theory is not
represented, heavily revised typescripts of his four Bampton
lectures "On the Art of Science" include discussions of his early discoveries, as do his memoirs (located in Series
IV). A file on "The Making of
the Standard Model" contains correspondence, typescripts, and other materials relating to Weinberg's
historical review at a 2003 CERN symposium as
well as his statement about the future. The file on "The Conceptual Basis of the Standard Model" includes a typescript of Weinberg's concluding
lecture at a 50th anniversary symposium held at Case Western Reserve University in
2018. |
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Work at Harvard on properties of the axion in the late 1970s is reflected in a file
titled 'Axions' that contains handwritten drafts,
typescripts, and correspondence relating to Weinberg's articles "A New Light Boson?" (early title "Instantons Without Axions: Further
Comments on the Problem of CP Nonconservation") and the unpublished "A Current-Algebraic
Description of the Axion" (co-authored with Michael
Peskin), as well as works by others. |
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In 1979, Weinberg reworked his electroweak unification theory to incorporate renormalization,
which led to the development of a theory of
quantum gravity, and those topics are represented in the subject files. Weinberg's
work from 1980 until his death in 2021 is well represented,
including his last published articles, "Massless Particles in Higher Dimensions" and "On the Development of Effective Field Theory".
Weinberg's 'Correspondence' files date from 2011 to 2021 and also contain references
to and drafts of later works such as "Models of Lepton
and Quark Masses". |
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Some subject files relate to a specific paper published by Weinberg and can include
correspondence about its publication or discussions with
other physicists. For example, the 'Adiabatic Correspondence' file regarding "Adiabatic Modes in Cosmology" contains pre-publication
correspondence about comments and input on Weinberg's work by other scientists, while
the "In-In Formalism" file includes correspondence
regarding Weinberg's questions about other scientists' work. Correspondence can include
enclosures of printouts of LaTeX files of proofs
or comments sent as part of the exchange. Correspondence about an article's publication,
usually with Physical Review Letters, is often
present; for example, the file 'CP and ΔB in Cosmology' holds Weinberg's correspondence
about his article "Cosmological Production of
Baryons", including his responses to referee's reports and changes made for publication. All
correspondence is listed in this guide's
Index of Correspondents. |
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Weinberg usually published solo journal articles but occasionally co-authored works
with others, and some subject files relate to those
collaborations. For example, the 'Gomis (Joaquim)' files contain Weinberg's correspondence
with Gomis as well as typescript drafts of
research articles they wrote together. Similarly, the 'D'Hoker (Eric)' file contains
not only correspondence, typescripts, notes, and
printout data regarding Weinberg and D'Hoker's 1994 article "General Effective Actions", but also referees' reports and correspondence
with each other and with Physical Review Letters and Physical Review D about its submission and publication. |
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Although materials relating to Weinberg's books and teaching are also located in Series
II and Series III, subject files often relate to
the development of his lecture material in preparation for teaching or publishing.
For example, the 'Cosmic Microwave Background Ionizing
and Polarization' file includes articles by others and correspondence consulting with
others during preparation for Weinberg's PHY 396T
Cosmology course. The 'Vafa – Witten Supersymmetry Breaking' file consists of research
articles used as references and correspondence with
Cumrun Vafa seeking clarification or understanding of topics during the process of
writing The Quantum Theory of Fields, Volume II. |
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Other subject files pertain to Weinberg's essays, talks, projects, and various subjects
of interest to Weinberg. For example, Weinberg was
involved with the Superconducting Super Collider (SSC) particle accelerator, and files
relating to that project and its cancellation, as
well as to his essays about science funding, "The Crisis of Big Science" (2012) and "The Missions of Astronomy" (2009), and an opinion
editorial about funding for 'Manned Space Flight' (2010), are also present. Many files
represent Weinberg's interest and writing about
the history of science. The state of Israel was also of interest to Weinberg, and
a file relates to his 2009 Trinity College debate
justifying Israel's actions in Gaza. |
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Series II. Books and Publishing Files consists of material primarily relating to publication of Weinberg's books, both
technical and for
general readers, but also regarding proposed books and reprints of his essays. Included
are typescripts, page proofs, corrections and
updates, advertisements, publishing agreements, royalty statements, reviews, marketing
questionnaires, and correspondence, all dating
from 1963 to 2021. Because many of Weinberg's books were textbooks that grew out of
lecture notes for courses he taught, the files can
also include lecture notes, syllabuses, problem sets, and similar class materials.
Compilations of published versions of works by Weinberg
conclude the series; the numbered articles correlate to Weinberg's lists of his publications
that are located in folder 13.8 and 150.10.
Additional typescripts and materials relating to Weinberg's books may also be found
scattered throughout Weinberg's subject files in
Series I and in his teaching files in Series III. |
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Series III. Teaching Files comprises class lecture notes, problem sets, homework solutions, exams, syllabuses,
evaluations, rosters,
grade sheets, and handwritten notes dating from 1975 to 2021 and arranged alphabetically
by course title. Many of the lecture notes have
a table of contents and are numbered by chapters and sections. Additional lecture
notes and teaching materials are scattered throughout
Weinberg's subject files in Series I and are also located with Series II files for
books that were based on the lectures. |
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Series IV. Personal Materials dates from 1933 to 2021 and includes documents, business cards, membership cards,
cultural entertainment
ephemera, snapshots and paper copies of photographs, and typescript chronologies and
drafts of Weinberg's memoirs, which were written
with Louise Weinberg's assistance. Among materials filed with memoirs are the Weinbergs'
curricula vitae, a photoduplicate of Weinberg's
high school graduation program, correspondence, and a typescript and proofs of Weinberg's
2001 University of Texas commencement speech in
which he criticized the lack of legislative funding to make the university a top research
institution. |
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Series V. Louise Weinberg consists of her passport, notes, household receipts, printouts of Steven Weinberg's
obituaries, and class
materials, all dating from 1968-2021. The class materials include handwritten lecture
notes from courses taught by Professor Trautman
at Harvard Law School and lecture notes, readings, and syllabuses from her own Admiralty
Law teaching at the University of Texas.
Correspondence and other materials relating to Louise Weinberg may be found scattered
in other series. Business cards, membership cards,
her CV, and typescript essays she wrote are located in Series IV, and the published
version of her essay "Is It All Right to Read Trollope?"
(1993) is located in the 'Rochester 1962' subject file in Series I. Louise Weinberg
assisted Steven Weinberg with his memoirs, located in
Series IV, and also provided editorial assistance to him on other writings, so her
comments and revisions are present on drafts of his works
throughout the papers. |
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An explanation of terms used in the finding aid to describe materials: |
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annotations--marginalia; handwritten notes, usually mathematical notes,
calculations, or figures, but can include a citation of where the paper was
published or prose notes; located in margins or sometimes on versos
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correspondence--includes printouts of email
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lecture notes--class handouts and teaching notes; Weinberg variously called
these handouts, class notes, and lecture notes; some served as class
textbooks, with later versions being the basis of his published books
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lecture slides--includes printouts, transparencies, and viewgraphs
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markings--usually handwritten lines underlining, circling, or otherwise marking
particular passages in a text or entries in a list of references; can also be a
handwritten "x" or a question mark in a margin
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notes--usually pages of mathematical notes or calculations
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preprints—articles or papers not yet published in peer-reviewed journals,
sometimes disseminated through an institutional repository or in later years on
preprint servers like arXiv; also includes talks, lectures, or conference papers
that were later published in conference proceedings or elsewhere
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published versions--used in lieu of version of record; refers to the peer-reviewed
version of a paper that was published in a refereed scholarly journal, either in print
or online. Early ones can be the original or
photoduplicated printed texts, reprints or offprints, while later ones are usually
printouts from electronic journals or electronic platforms
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reports--technical reports describing and communicating scientific research prior
to its publication; distributed internally or wider by an organization
(companies, universities, or government laboratories) and usually created using
federal funds; reports that were later published are sometimes referred to as
preprints
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review copy typescripts--reviewers' copies of typescripts submitted to a journal;
those with review copy stamps on them are included in folder descriptions, but other
reports or typescripts have numbers and a date of receipt and
are likely also review copies
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revisions--handwritten corrections or revisions of any extent
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tearsheets--photoduplicated or original pages removed from periodicals, usually
general interest or news articles
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typescripts--used in lieu of the term working papers; no distinction is made
between printouts and typescripts or between photoduplicates and originals
except when needed to indicate whether any handwriting present is original or
prior to photoduplication
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Note on physical processing: Paper clips were replaced with paper sleeves. Staples
were removed when they bound together original manuscripts, correspondence, or fragile
materials or as needed to prevent damage due to rust or sharp points. |
