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COLLECTION Identifier: HUGFP 1.xx

Papers of Bruce Chalmers

Overview

Bruce Chalmers (1907-1990) was Gordon McKay Professor of Metallurgy at Harvard from 1953 to 1977. The Papers of Bruce Chalmers, 1952-1966, document Chalmers's teaching, committee, and professional activities while at Harvard. The collection primarily consists of Chalmers's correspondence regarding his participation on committees at Harvard and beyond, research contracts, letters of recommendations for graduate student advisees, and his publishing projects.

Dates

  • Creation: 1953-1966

Creator

Researcher access

Open for research with the following exceptions: Personnel and student records are closed for 80 years. Requires review by archivist.

Extent

1.88 cubic feet (4 document boxes, 2 half document boxes)

The Papers of Bruce Chalmers, 1952-1966, document Chalmers's teaching, committee, and professional activities while he served as Gorron McKay Professor of Metallurgy at Harvard. The collection primarily consists of Chalmers's correspondence regarding his participation on committees at Harvard and beyond, research contracts, letters of recommendations for graduate student advisees, and his publishing projectss. A small amount of correspondence from Chalmers's tenure as editor of Acta Metallugica is also found in the collection.

Biographical note on Bruce Chalmers

Bruce Chalmers (1907-1990) was Gordon McKay Professor of Metallurgy at Harvard from 1953 to 1977. While at Harvard, Chalmers also served as master of the John Winthrop House undergraduate residence from 1964 to 1975.

Born in London, Chalmers studied at the University College of London, receiving a B.Sc. in physics in two years and completing his Ph.D. in 1932. Following his postdoctoral studies, Chalmers became lecturer in physics at Sir John Cass College of London University, a position he held for five years. During World War II Chalmers joined the metals research section of the British Ministry of Supply where he investigated the treatment of armor piercing shot and the non-destructive evaluation of their quality. In 1944 he was appointed head of the Metallurgy Divison of the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnsborough. In this role, Chalmers examined the problems of materials failures in aircraft crashes and the development of alloys with high strength and low density. After the War, Chalmers worked in the Atomic Energy Research Establishment at Harwell Royal Air Force base where his duties centered on creating a program directed at the development of nuclear reactor materials.

Chalmers returned to academia in 1948 when he accepted a position as professor of physical metallurgy at the University of Toronto. In 1953, Chalmers was appointed Gordon McKay professor of metallurgy at Harvard, a position he held until his retirment from the University in 1977. From 1964 to 1973, Chalmers served as master of John Winthrop House, one of Harvard's undergraduate residences. While at Harvard, Chalmers's research chiefly focused on solidification and the structure of grain boundaries. Toward the end of his time at Harvard, Chalmers also studied the consequences of energy production and conservation.

Professionally, Chalmers served as editor of the journal Acta Metallurgica. He was elected to the National Academy of Sceinces in 1975 and the Bruce Chalmers Award given by the Minerals, Metals, and Materials Society was created in his honor in 1989.

Chalmers married Ema Arnouts in 1938; the couple had five children. His brother was British atmospheric physicist, John Alan Chalmers (1904-1967). Chalmers died in Falmouth, Mass. on May 25, 1990.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged in two series:

  1. Correspondence and other papers, 1953-1966 (HUGFP 1.10)
  2. Acta Metallurgica (HUGFP 1.12)

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Specific acquisition information, when available, is noted at the series level.

  1. Gift of Bruce Chalmers, 1974; accession 7507.
  2. Transferred from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Division of Applied Sciences, April 27, 1995; accession 13065.

Source for Biographical note on Bruce Chalmers

Turnbull, David. "Bruce Chalmers 1907-1990" Biographical Memoirs, Volume 76. National Academy of Sciences, 1999: https://www.nap.edu/read/6477/chapter/7. Accessed 21 April 2021.

Inventory update

This document last updated 2022 April 22.

Processing Information

This finding aid was created by Jennifer Pelose in April 2021.

Information in this finding aid was assembled from legacy paper inventories and container management data. The collection was not re-examined by the archivist.

Title
Chalmers, Bruce. Papers of Bruce Chalmers, 1953-1966 : an inventory
Author
Harvard University Archives
Description rules
dacs
Language of description
und
EAD ID
hua38021

Repository Details

Part of the Harvard University Archives Repository

Holding nearly four centuries of materials, the Harvard University Archives is the principal repository for the institutional records of Harvard University and the personal archives of Harvard faculty, as well as collections related to students, alumni, Harvard-affiliates and other associated topics. The collections document the intellectual, cultural, administrative and social life of Harvard and the influence of the University as it emerged across the globe.

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