Main content
Robert M. Thrall papers relating to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Radiation Laboratory
Notifications
Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts [Contact Us]3420 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6206
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
Robert McDowell Thrall (1914-2006) was a mathematician who pioneered the development of modern operations research. He earned his PhD from the University of Illinois in 1937, after which he served as professor of mathematics at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor from 1937 to 1969. He then worked as professor at Rice University from 1969 to 1984, retiring as a professor emeritus.
Of particular interest with regard to this collection, Thrall also worked for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Radiation Laboratory, where he headed Group 91.5 of Division 9, Airborne Systems from 1944 until the Radiation Lab's formal termination in 1945. The "Rad Lab," as it was known, was a microwave research facility that developed radar technology during World War II. According to the Five Years at the Radiation Laboratory yearbook, this division developed a wide variety of radar for airborne bombing and navigation.
This collection contains material pertaining primarily to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Radiation Laboratory and its personnel. The bulk of the collection consists of MIT Radiation Laboratory publications, including one copy of the Radiation Lab handbook, second edition (1944) and several permanent address lists for Radiation Lab staff members. The collection also contains photographs primarily pertaining to the Radiation Lab and its personnel. Three of the four staff photographs are of the Division 9 Airborne Systems staff, of whom collection creator Robert M. Thrall was a supervisor. It also contains one photograph labeled "Universities of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and Sussex First International Conference on O.R. August 1971, England."
Gift, 2019
Organization
Subject
Place
- Publisher
- University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts
- Finding Aid Author
- Cory Austin Knudson
- Finding Aid Date
- 2019 October 30
- Access Restrictions
-
This collection is open for research use.
- Use Restrictions
-
Copyright restrictions may exist. For most library holdings, the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania do not hold copyright. It is the responsibility of the requester to seek permission from the holder of the copyright to reproduce material from the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts.