These papers primarily document Schawlow's career at Stanford and include correspondence, 1951-1995; lecture notes and class files, 1980-1988, containing problem sets and solutions, exams, and other information; grant files; records from participation in professional organizations including American Physical Society, American Institute of Physics, and the Optical Society of America; and reprints of his and his students' articles, 1949-1994. Also included is correspondence, clippings, and brochures pertaining to autism, 1981-1989, including typescript of "Our Autistic Son" by Aurelia T. and Arthur L. Schawlow.

Arthur L. Schawlow, professor of physics at Stanford University from 1961 to 1991, received the Nobel Prize in physics in 1981 for his contributions to the development of laser spectroscopy. He and his brother-in-law, Charles Townes, professor emeritus at the University of California-Berkeley, published their first paper showing how to build a laser in 1958, while Schawlow was a research physicist at Bell Telephone Laboratories. Schawlow earned his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. at the University of Toronto and was a research associate and associate professor at Columbia University before coming to Stanford. He was chair of the physics department from 1966 to 1970 and retired from active teaching in 1991 with the rank of professor emeritus. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society, the Optical Society of America, the Institute of Electrical Electronics Engineers, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

98 Linear feet

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