The University of Chicago Library > The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center > Finding Aids > Preliminary Inventory to the Ernest O. Wollan Collection 1932-2010
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| Title: | Wollan, Ernest O. Collection |
|---|---|
| Dates: | 1932-2010 |
| Accession Number: | 2022-186 |
| Size: | 1.5 linear feet (2 boxes) |
| Repository: |
Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center |
| Abstract: | Earnest Omar Wollan (1902-1984) was a physicist, a member of the Manhattan Project at the University of Chicago, and a scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. This collection includes research notes, correspondence, and photographs. |
This collection is open for research.
When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: Wollan, Ernest O. Collection, Acc #, Box #, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library
Ernest Omar Wollan was born on November 6, 1902 in Glenwood, Minnesota. He received his BA from Concordia College in 1923 and his PhD in physics from the University of Chicago in 1929 where he studied under physicist and Nobel Prize winner Arthur Compton. After graduating, he taught physics at North Dakoka State College and Washington College in St. Louis. On a National Research Council Fellowship, Wollan traveled to the Arctic Circle and Zürich, Switzerland to perform cosmic ray research. In 1942, Compton invited Wollan to join the Metallurgical Laboratory at the University of Chicago. Wollan was responsible for leading a group of scientists to determine safety measures for radiation protection. He used the title “health physicist” and in 1944, brought his health physics group to Oak Ridge National Laboratory where he worked on radiation safety. He later returned to physics research at Oak Ridge where he measured neutron diffraction. Wollan along with Oak Ridge physicist Clifford Shull studied neutron diffraction techniques for which Shull received the Nobel Prize in 1984, after Wollan’s death. Wollan retired from Oak Ridge in 1967. He was married to Adelaide Magdaline Hov (1906-1959) and had three children. Wollan died on March 11, 1984 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
This collection includes correspondence, research on neutron diffraction, news clippings on Wolan’s commentary on the development of the atomic bomb, photographs, biographical materials on Wollan and Compton, and an album of his work at the University of Chicago.
Compton, Arthur Holly. Papers
| Box 1 | Scrapbook album of Correspondence and Photographs, 1932-1995 |
| Box 1 | El Comercio, Lima, June 19, 1941 |
| Box 2 | Personal Documents, n.d. |
| Box 2 | University and Institutional Documents, 1932-1981 |
| Box 2 | Correspondence and Newspaper Articles, Originals and Copies, 1967-2010 |
| Box 2 | Clinton Laboratories Document Copies, 1944-1946 |
| Box 2 | Franklin Institute Papers and Photographs, 1967 |
| Box 2 | Photographs, 1939-1976 (2 folders) |