Katherine Sopka (born Katherine J. Russell) was a

science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

interview An interview is a structured conversation where one participant asks questions, and the other provides answers.Merriam Webster DictionaryInterview Dictionary definition, Retrieved February 16, 2016 In common parlance, the word "interview" ...

er, physics

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

and historian of physics. She is known for her interviews held with leading scientists, and for work on the history of quantum physics and the physics community in the U.S. in the 1920s and 1930s.

Life

Katherine was born fourth of six children in

Dorchester, Boston Dorchester (colloquially referred to as Dot) is a Boston neighborhood comprising more than in the City of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Originally, Dorchester was a separate town, founded by Puritans who emigrated in 1630 from Dorchester, ...

, and attended Girl's Latin School in Boston. She studied at

Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and functioned as the female coordinate institution for the all-male Harvard College. Considered founded in 1879, it was one of the Seven Sisters colleges and he ...

, where she obtained her

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

. She married John J. Sopka in 1943, and the couple subsequently moved to

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Day ...

, where her husband worked with the

Manhattan project The Manhattan Project was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the project w ...

until the end of the war. They both intended to complete their graduate degrees and returned to Harvard, where Katherine earned her master's degree in physics and John his

Ph.D A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...

. in mathematics.Katherine J. Sopka, 88
obituary, eagletribune.com, August 3, 2009 (downloaded 22 March 2012) Sopka taught physics at Newark State Teachers College and later at the

University of Colorado at Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado sys ...

(CU). There she worked with

Frank Oppenheimer Frank Friedman Oppenheimer (August 14, 1912 – February 3, 1985) was an American particle physicist, cattle rancher, professor of physics at the University of Colorado, and the founder of the Exploratorium in San Francisco. A younger brother ...

and David Hawkins on developing a curriculum for physics instruction in relation to a project of the

Physical Science Study Committee The Physical Science Study Committee, usually abbreviated as PSSC, was inaugurated at a 1956 conference at MIT to review introductory physics education and to design, implement, and monitor improvements. It produced major new physics textbooks, inst ...

. Under the supervision of

Gerald Holton Gerald James Holton (born May 23, 1922) is an American physicist, historian of science, and educator, whose professional interests also include philosophy of science and the fostering of careers of young men and women. He is Mallinckrodt Profes ...

in the History of Science Department of

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, she studied the

theoretical physics Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experim ...

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, tow ...

in the U.S. and its dependence on the European physics community of the 1920s. She obtained her Ph.D. in

history of science The history of science covers the development of science from ancient times to the present. It encompasses all three major branches of science: natural, social, and formal. Science's earliest roots can be traced to Ancient Egypt and Meso ...

and education at

in 1976 with her dissertation entitled ''Quantum Physics in America: 1920–1935''. She actively worked on physics curriculum development, participating in the

Harvard Project Physics Harvard Project Physics, also called Project Physics, was a national curriculum development project to create a secondary school physics education program in the United States during the Cold War era. History The project was active from 1962 ...

. She interviewed noted scientists and worked as editor for the

American Institute of Physics The American Institute of Physics (AIP) promotes science and the profession of physics, publishes physics journals, and produces publications for scientific and engineering societies. The AIP is made up of various member societies. Its corpora ...

books series ''History of Modern Physics''. She died on 30 July 2009 in

Salem, Massachusetts Salem ( ) is a historic coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, located on the North Shore of Greater Boston. Continuous settlement by Europeans began in 1626 with English colonists. Salem would become one of the most significant seaports tr ...

Oral history transcripts

Sopka recorded her interviews, which became part of physics'

oral history Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people wh ...

. They are archived with the ''Niels Bohr Library & Archives'' of the Center for History of Physics, American Institute of Physics, College Park, MD USA. In 1979 she spoke with Mildred Allen. Alice Armstrong, Dorothy Heyworth, In 1978, she interviewed Lucy Wilson and Dorothy Weeks In 1977 her subjects included

Melba Phillips Melba Newell Phillips (February 1, 1907 – November 8, 2004) was an American physicist and pioneer science educator. One of the first doctoral students of J. Robert Oppenheimer at the University of California, Berkeley, Phillips completed her Ph. ...

, Janet Guernsey, Edward Purcell,

Nicolaas Bloembergen Nicolaas Bloembergen (March 11, 1920 – September 5, 2017) was a Dutch-American physicist and Nobel laureate, recognized for his work in developing driving principles behind nonlinear optics for laser spectroscopy. During his career, he was a p ...

, Kenneth T. Bainbridge,

John H. Van Vleck John Hasbrouck Van Vleck (March 13, 1899 – October 27, 1980) was an American physicist and mathematician. He was co-awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1977, for his contributions to the understanding of the behavior of electronic magnetism ...

Sidney Coleman Sidney Richard Coleman (7 March 1937 – 18 November 2007) was an American theoretical physics, theoretical physicist noted for his research in high-energy theoretical physics. Life and work Sidney Coleman grew up on the Far North Side o ...

, and

In 1976 she talked with

Sheldon Glashow Sheldon Lee Glashow (, ; born December 5, 1932) is a Nobel Prize-winning American theoretical physicist. He is the Metcalf Professor of Mathematics and Physics at Boston University and Eugene Higgins Professor of Physics, Emeritus, at Harvard U ...

Norman Ramsey Norman Foster Ramsey Jr. (August 27, 1915 – November 4, 2011) was an American physicist who was awarded the 1989 Nobel Prize in Physics, for the invention of the separated oscillatory field method, which had important applications in the const ...

, Jabez Curry Street, and Edwin Kemble.Interview with Dr. Edwin Kemble at Harvard Physics Department, Cambridge, MA, on November 18, 1976
Transcript
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Publications

Books

* Katherine Russell Sopka: ''Quantum physics in America: the years through 1935'', Thomash Publishers, 1988, * Katherine Russell Sopka (ed.): ''Physics for a new century: papers presented at the 1904 St. Louis congress'', Tomash Publishers, 1986, * Katherine Russell Sopka: ''Making contributions: an historical overview of women's role in physics'', American Association of Physics Teachers, 1984, * Dorothy Weeks, Katherine Russell Sopka: ''Dorothy Weeks: transcript of an interview taken on a tape recorder on 19 July 1978'', Center for History of Physics, American Institute of Physics, 1978 * Katherine Sopka: ''Quantum Physics in America: 1920–1935'' (Doctoral Dissertation, Harvard University, 1976). New York: American Institute of Physics and Tomash Publishers
Book review by David C. Cassidy
The British Journal for the History of Science, 1982, 15, pp. 202–204) * Katherine Sopka: ''Survey of the physical sciences: PHYS4005'', Independent Study Div., New York Institute of Technology, 1973

Articles and book chapters (selection)

* Katherine R. Sopka, Elisabeth M. Sopka, ''The Bonebreak Theological Seminary: Top-Secret Manhattan Project Site'', Physics in Perspective (PIP), Springer, Volume 12, Number 3, pp. 338–349, DOI: 10.1007/s00016-010-0019-4, 2000
abstract
*

Eli Maor Eli Maor (born 1937), an historian of mathematics, is the author of several books about the history of mathematics. Eli Maor received his PhD at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. He teaches the history of mathematics at Loyola Unive ...

, Katherine R. Sopka: ''The story of e: e the story of a number'',

The Physics Teacher ''The Physics Teacher'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by AIP Publishing on behalf of the American Association of Physics Teachers covering the history and philosophy of physics, applied physics, physics education (curriculum devel ...

, Volume 33, Issue 8, pp. 540, DOI 10.1119/1.2344290, 1995 * Katherine R. Sopka: ''A man for our time'', The Physics Teacher, Volume 24, Issue 3, pp. 188, DOI 10.1119/1.2341980, 1986 * Katherine R. Sopka: ''A good story'', The Physics Teacher, Volume 23, Issue 4, pp. 252–253, DOI: 10.1119/1.2341805, 1985 * Katherine R. Sopka: ''Three years of

Joseph Henry Joseph Henry (December 17, 1797– May 13, 1878) was an American scientist who served as the first Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. He was the secretary for the National Institute for the Promotion of Science, a precursor of the Smith ...

'', The Physics Teacher, Volume 25, Issue 4, pp. 254, 10.1119/1.2342239, 1987 * Katherine R. Sopka: ''Particles or waves?'', The Physics Teacher, Volume 22, Issue 5, pp. 336, DOI 10.1119/1.2341564, 1984 *

, Katherine Sopka: ''Great books of science in the twentieth century: physics''. In: Mortimer J. Adler, John Van Doren (eds.): ''The Great Ideas Today'', pp. 224 ff., 1979 * Katherine Sopka: ''An apostle of science visits America:

John Tyndall John Tyndall FRS (; 2 August 1820 – 4 December 1893) was a prominent 19th-century Irish physicist. His scientific fame arose in the 1850s from his study of diamagnetism. Later he made discoveries in the realms of infrared radiation and the p ...

's journey of 1872–1873'', The Physics Teacher, Volume 10, Issue 7, pp. 369–375, 1972
abstract
* Katherine J. Sopka: ''A real enough cleavage'',

Physics Today ''Physics Today'' is the membership magazine of the American Institute of Physics. First published in May 1948, it is issued on a monthly schedule, and is provided to the members of ten physics societies, including the American Physical Society. I ...

, Volume 21, Issue 7, Letters, p. 9, DOI 10.1063/1.3035089, 1968

Biographies

* Katherine R. Sopka
Biography
of

Percy Williams Bridgman Percy Williams Bridgman (April 21, 1882 – August 20, 1961) was an American physicist who received the 1946 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the physics of high pressures. He also wrote extensively on the scientific method and on other as ...

, Hanneby.com * Katherine R. Sopka
Biography
of

Annie Jump Cannon Annie Jump Cannon (; December 11, 1863 – April 13, 1941) was an American astronomer whose cataloging work was instrumental in the development of contemporary stellar classification. With Edward C. Pickering, she is credited with the creation of ...

, Hanneby.com

References

External links

Katherine J. Sopka
SalemNews.com
Katherine Sopka plumbed physics history
Obituary, August 11, 2009, Boston Globe, www.boston.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Sopka, Katherine 2009 deaths American physicists Historians of science Writers from Boston Radcliffe College alumni Year of birth missing American women historians Historians from Massachusetts 21st-century American women