Francis G. Slack Collection
1928-1978
Biography/History
Francis Goddard Slack was born in Superior, Wisconsin, on November 1, 1897. He received a B.S. degree from the
University of Georgia in 1918 and entered the U.S. Army, being commissioned a pilot; because World War I ended before
his graduation he never engaged in combat flying. In 1921 he entered Columbia University and in 1926 received the Ph.D.
in physics.
In 1928, Francis Slack came to Vanderbilt University as associate professor of physics. He immediately began to
strengthen teaching and research. One of his first constructive efforts was to organize and equip an advanced laboratory
where students might learn the rudiments of electrical measurement and perform such famous experiments as the determination
of e, e/m, and h. The Vanderbilt laboratory was unequalled in the South at the time.
In 1939, he was appointed Professor of Physics and chairman of the department. He had a distinguished career in the
Southeast as a physics teacher, researcher, and administrator. He was the first physicist at Vanderbilt and indeed in
the state of Tennessee to put equal emphasis on teaching and on research at a national-international level. In 1951,
Professor Slack stepped down from his position. In 1977 Vanderbilt University established in the Department of Physics
and Astronomy an annual lecture series named in honor of Francis G. Slack.
Scope and Contents
This .21 linear feet collection contains a biography, a booklet from the first lecture series, and eight pamphlet
offprints, authored by Professor Slack, from published journals,
Biography
- Francis G. Slack: Distinguished Vanderbilt Scientist By Joseph H. Hamilton, Robert T. Lagemann, and Ernest A. Jones
Lecture Series
- Francis G. Slack Lectures, Department of Physics and Astronomy, 1977
Pamphlet/Offprints
- An Arrangement for Obtaining a Steady Flow of Gas at a Constant Low Pressure
- reprinted from The Review of Scientific Instruments - January, 1930
- The Effect of Concentration, Temperature and Wave-Length of Light upon the Verdet Constant of Cerous Chloride Solutions
- reprinted from Physical Review - October 15, 1934
- Hydrogen Atom in the Stark Effect
- reprinted from Physical Review - May 15, 1930
- Intensities in the Hydrogen Spectral Series
- reprinted from Physical Review - April, 1928
- Magneto-Optic Rotation by Condenser Discharge
- reprinted from Physical Review - October 15, 1932
- Optical Activity and Magneto-optical Activity of Crystalline Nickel Sulphate in the Near Ultra-violet
- reprinted from the Philosophical Magazine - August, 1939
- Optical Activity of Crystalline Nickel Sulfate - Hexahydrate
- reprinted from Physical Review - September 1, 1938
- The Verdet Constant of Heavy Water
- reprinted from Physical Review - December 1, 1934
Overview | Complete Finding Aid (pdf)
Special Collections | Heard
Library | Vanderbilt University
Copyright © Special Collections, Jean and Alexander Heard Library, Vanderbilt
University
Last modified: April 10, 2008
For more information, contact us at: <
>