Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to research.

Use Restrictions

Permission to publish material from the Dr. Richard Zallen Papers must be obtained from Special Collections, Virginia Tech.

Preferred Citation

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Dr. Richard Zallen Papers, Ms2008-069 - Special Collections, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Va.

Acquisition Information

The Dr. Richard Zallen Papers were donated to Special Collections in 2007.

Processing Information

The processing, arrangement and description of the Dr. Richard Zallen Papers commenced in August, 2008 and was completed in October, 2008.

Biographical Information

Richard Henry Zallen was born in New York City in 1937. After receiving his bachelors of science in physics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1957, Zallen continued his education at Harvard University‐eventually receiving his Ph.D. in Applied Physics in 1964. From 1966 to 1983, Dr. Zallen worked at the Xerox Research Laboratories in Rochester, New York. While working at Xerox, he was part of a team that patented Spin Coated Photoconductor Films. After his research at Xerox, Dr. Zallen served as a professor of physics at Virginia Tech. In 1976 Dr. Zallen became a fellow of the American Physical Society. During his sabbaticals, Dr. Zallen held several visiting appointments. From 1971 to 1972 he acted as the visiting associate professor of physics at the Technion, The Israel Institute of Technology, in Haifa; in the summer of 1979 he was the visiting professor at the Université de Paris VI; from 1990 to 1991 he was the SERC senior research fellow at Imperial College in London; and in 1998 he served as the visiting professor at Imperial College in London. Dr. Zallen's primary research interest lies in experimental studies of the optical properties of solids. In pursuance of his interests, Dr. Zallen has published more than one hundred articles and a widely cited book, The Physics of Amorphous Solids. In 2006, the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors honored Dr. Zallen with the title "professor emeritus."

Scope and Content

The Dr. Richard Zallen Papers document the research and professional development of a physics professor at Virginia Tech, specializing in condensed matter research, largely during the second half of the twentieth century. The papers include information concerning Zallen's study at Harvard and his work at Xerox; research notes; professional correspondence; Virginia Tech lectures; drafts of published works; and materials concerning trips, sabbaticals, and conferences. The corporate and governmental institutions with which Zallen worked include: the Office of Naval Research, Raytheon Manufacturing Company, Texas Instruments, and IBM. Examples of mentioned geographical locations are Israel, Belgium, China, England, France, Canada, Italy, and a host of cities in the United States. Materials include hand-written documents, published material, flat plate drawings, photographs, a sample of "melt-spun amorphous," and stamps from various countries. Expanatory notes made by Zallen in 2006 annotate many documents. Some significant documents include supporting patent materials for Spin Coated Photoconductor Films, letters concerning the protest by industrial scientists at Xerox over the escalation of the war in Indo-China, and copies of APS Solid State Correspondence discussing the formation of Solid-State Physics.

(NOTE: Many of the folders in this collection contain two sets of dates. Dates within parentheses designate the date originally provided by the creator and usually indicate when an event/research occurred. Dates outside of parentheses indicate the chronological range of materials found within the collection. )

Arrangement

The collection maintains original order. Papers are organized by topic and generally appear in reverse chronological order. Correspondence appears alphabetically.

Related Material

Zallen, Richard. The Physics of Amorphous Solids. New York: Wiley, c1983
In Spec Storage: QC176.8.A44 Z34 1983 c.3

Adjunct Descriptive Data

Zallen, Richard. The Physics of Amorphous Solids. New York: Wiley, c1983
In Spec Storage: QC176.8.A44 Z34 1983 c.3