Michael Fowler August 20, 2026
The UVa Physics Department, like Modern Physics itself, emerged in recognizable form in the years around 1900. In fact, though, there was earlier science in Virginia, both research and teaching, so in this "prequel" we’ll mention a few early contributors to set the stage for subsequent development.
2. An Early Document: Llewellyn Hoxton's History
Hoxton's 1948 Progress Report to University President Colgate Darden is a brilliant review of the University, and in particular the Department, over almost a century.
3. Fred Brown's History of UVa Physics.
Approximately 1922 - 1968.
4. My Notes on Some Faculty and Events in the Period 1896-1948
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In particular, Hoxton himself. Then our two lucky breaks: Rockefeller money, and the rise of our graduate student (and, later, Chair) Jesse Beams to national prominence for his work in developing both a biophysics ultracentrifuge, and an isotope-separating centrifuge, now the standard method for enriching uranium.
This excellent book is a doctoral thesis from Twente University (Netherlands), describing the historical development of the ultracentrifuge. It is an absorbing read, and makes clear that Beams’ work was pivotal, and that at the same time he was contributing substantially to other branches of physics, related only by requiring measures of either very short time periods (nanoseconds) or high ‘gravitational’ fields. Well worth reading!