Isidor Isaac Rabi (1898–1988) achieved a BS in chemistry from Cornell University in 1919 and received his PhD from Columbia University in 1927. He spent the next two years in Europe on a fellowship, working with such eminent physicists as Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, Wolfgang Pauli, and Otto Stern. He then became a Columbia faculty member spent the remainder of his career at the university.
In 1930, Professor Rabi researched the nature of the force binding protons to atomic nuclei. This research eventually led to the creation of the molecular-beam magnetic-resonance detection method, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1944. In 1940, he took leave from Columbia to work as associate director of the Radiation Laboratory at MIT on the development of radar. During this time, it is believed that Professor Rabi served as a visiting consultant to the top secret Los Alamos Laboratory. Following World War II, he co-founded Brookhaven National Laboratory and CERN, and then served as Science Advisor to US President Harry Truman.
Professor Rabi gave four Compton lectures and a number of seminars:
- “The Evolution of Science in Twentieth Century America.” March 6, 1962
- “Science and Public Policy.” March 8, 1962
- “Education for Americans In Our Pluralistic Society.” March 13, 1962
- “The Education of A Western Man.” March 15, 1962
- “Physics: The Science In Permanent Revolution.” March 20, 1962
- “The Dilemma of Modern Physics.” March 22, 1962
Seminars
- “Education in a Pluralistic Society.” March 16, 1962. Moderator: Dr. Charles H. Townes, MIT Provost. Speaker: Elting E. Morison, Professor of Industrial History, MIT. Panelists: Dr. Paul A. Freund, Professor of Law, Harvard; Professor Francis Friedman, Director of the Science Teaching Center; Dr. Gerald Holton, Harvard Professor of Physics; Dr. Edwin H. Land, Visiting Institute Professor and President of the Polaroid Company; and Dr. Paul A. Samuelson, Professor of Economics, MIT.
- “The Dilemma of Modern Physics.” March 22, 1962. Moderator: Dr. Bruno B. Rossi. Professor of Physics, MIT. Speaker: Dr. Edward M. Purcell, Gerhard Gade University Professor, Harvard University. Panelists: Dr. Isidor Rabi, Columbia University: Dr. Martin Deutsch, MIT: Dr. Donald A. Glaser, Visiting Professor of Biophysics, MIT; Professor Narman F. Ramsey, Harvard University: and Professor Cyril S. Smith, MIT.
Below, a 1961 video in which Professor Rabi participated in a Centennial Roundtable at MIT:
