On the Frontier

Market: General physics community, especially those in condensed matter and crystallography, as well as historians of science. This revealing autobiography by a prominent physicist and distinguished member of the physics community spans the past 60 years. From the people he knew to the events he witnessed, Frederick Seitz's engrossing book covers key developments in physics since the 1930s and includes many anecdotes and never before published photographs.

On the Frontier is Frederick Seitz's long-awaited memoir. Here in brisk, anecdotal style enhanced by dozens of never before published photographs, Dr. Seitz recalls the beginnings of his fascination with scientific inquiry; his academic endeavors at Stanford, Princeton, and the California Institute of Technology; his professional tenures at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, the Defense Department, NATO, and The Rockefeller University; his presidency of the National Academy of Sciences; and more. But On the Frontier is more than a story of one man. In describing his life and times, his friends and colleagues, and the environment in which his career flourished, Frederick Seitz offers an insider's look at the crucial developments, issues, personalities, and institutions of modern physics over nearly a century of development.