A namesake and descendent of David Rittenhouse, one of early America’s preeminent physical scientists, David R. Inglis enjoyed a career in nuclear physics that ranged from theoretical work on the structure of the nucleus in the 1930s to the development of the atomic bomb in the 1940s to the protracted struggle against nuclear weaponry and nuclear power. Born in Detroit, Michigan, on October 10, 1905, Inglis graduated from Amherst College (1928) before receiving his doctorate from the University of Michigan in 1931 for a dissertation on energy relations in complex spectra.

Like many ambitious young scientists of his generation, Inglis traveled abroad to strengthen his credentials. Well versed in current issues in the field from having attended the series of symposia on theoretical physics held in Ann Arbor, Inglis spent a year in Heidelberg, immersing himself in the rapidly developing field of quantum mechanics. When he returned to the States in 1933, however, he found himself in a state of academic vagabondage, passing through a succession of faculty positions at Ohio State (where he met and married Dorothy Kerr), Pittsburgh, and Princeton before landing at Johns Hopkins in 1938. There, he devoted himself to developing a program in experimental nuclear physics while conducting significant research on the nature of spin-orbit coupling in 7Li. When later confirmed, this work is believed, as Hanna et al. (1997) report, to represent the first assignment of an excited nuclear level based on a microscopic quantum mechanical theory.

Inglis’ tenure at Hopkins was interrupted by wartime service with the Ballistics Research Laboratory at Aberdeen Proving Grounds (1943) and the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos Laboratory, N.M. (1943-1946). He returned to civilian life in 1946 and to his work on atomic structure and angular distribution studies, but the war was clearly a watershed in the development of his commitment to what he called public affairs. Having gained an insider’s perspective on nuclear annihilation, he gradually turned against nuclear power. Joining the Argonne National Laboratory as a senior scientist in 1949, Inglis spent two decades in the development of peaceful uses for nuclear power, but more notably, he emerged as a prominent figure in the nuclear disarmament movement. As a founding member of the Federation of American Scientists and participant in the Pugwash conferences during the 1950s and 1960s, Inglis was an prominent voice for rationality in discussions of nuclear weaponry. As early as 1951, he called for the creation of a federal agency for arms control and disarmament (not established for another nine years later), and both in congress and before the public, he lobbied steadily for nuclear disarmament and for a partial nuclear test ban (approved in 1963), and against nuclear proliferation and the development of antiballistic missiles. A series of articles he published in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Saturday Review, and the New Republic were influential in raising public awareness of the dire implications of radioactive fallout, the hydrogen bomb, and the complexities of international arms control.

After retiring from Argonne and joining the faculty at UMass Amherst in 1969, Inglis’ activism expanded to include a concern with American energy policy. Calling attention to the critical problems of global dependence on fossil fuels and the dubious safety of nuclear reactors and long-term waste storage, Inglis became an advocate for alternative energy, particularly wind power, writing several books and chapters on nuclear and alternative energy. He felt a strong responsibility, as he wrote, for establishing a dialogue between scientists and the public as the best means of preserving democracy.

A highly prolific writer, Inglis contributed dozens of articles both in theoretical physics and public affairs over the course of his career, and was recipient of a number of honors and awards, including honorary degrees from Amherst College (1963) and the University of Illinois (1973), and the Leo Szilard Award for Physics in the Public Interest (1974) for his work on the social and strategic implications of nuclear energy. Inglis retired from UMass in 1975 and over the last several years of his life, continued occasionally to contribute to public debates. Inglis and his wife Betty (Dorothy) moved into the Applewood retirement community in September 1991. Betty died in 1993, followed by David died on December 3, 1995.

Betty and David Inglis, June 1992

The papers of David R. Inglis offer a perspective on the life and career of a theoretical physicist who grew from an early involvement in the Manhattan Project to becoming a committed critic of nuclear weaponry and nuclear power. Although the collection is relatively sparse in unpublished scientific work, it includes outstanding correspondence relating to Inglis’s work with the Federation of American Scientists and other organizations, and his efforts to influence public policy on issues relating to nuclear power. The collection also includes the majority of Inglis’ scientific publications and his published contributions on public affairs, as well as selected subject files, course notes, and lab notes. The later materials in the collection reflect Inglis’s late-career work in alternative energy.

Among the collection’s highlights are copies of notes distributed at Los Alamos University in 1945-1946, including Teller and Konopinski on quantum mechanics and Schiff and Baroody on statistical mechanics; Inglis’ notes from his work at Argonne National Laboratories; and a six part oral history conducted with Inglis in 1989, looking back at his career.

The UMass Amherst Libraries own the following of Inglis’ books:

• Inglis, David R., Dynamic Principles of Mechanics (Philadelphia:, 1949). Call no.: UB150315 (Depository)
• Inglis, David R., Nuclear Energy: Its Physics and Social Challenges (Reading, Mass.:, 1973). Call no.: QC792.I55 (ISEL)
• Inglis, David R., To End the Arms Race: Seeking a Safer Future (Ann Arbor:, 1986). Call no.: JX1974.7.I54 1986 (Du Bois)
• Inglis, David R., Wind Power and Other Energy Options (Ann Arbor:, 1978). Call no.: TK1541.I54 (ISEL)

Bummi als Zeitungsmacher, 1963

Born in Germany on Aug. 4, 1934, Hans Joachim Ring was a film enthusiast with an encyclopedic knowledge of German cinema. During the Second World War, movie theatres became a refuge for the young boy, whose family was forced several times to flee due to Allied bombing. The hardships of post-war life cemented the role of film in his life and as he grew older, he became an ardent collector of materials relating to film.

The Ring Collection includes hundreds of programs, fliers, and handbills published by the official East German film distributors Progress Film-Vertrieb and the Deutsche Film Aktiengesellschaft (DEFA) and sold to patrons at theatres. This extraordinary assemblage includes several hundred programs covering the immediate post-war period (1945-1950) and hundreds more relating to films released up to and beyond the end of the Communist era. Offering insight into the evolution of graphic design in East Germany and the marketing of film, the collection is one of the largest of its kind in the United States.

Among the highlights of the collection are over 500 handbills (effectively miniature posters) of Progress films issued during the height of the Cold War (1954-1961) and nearly 250 handbills for children’s films (1958-1972) reflecting a variety of cultural influences in poster design. The collection also includes a lengthy run of film programs for films distributed by Progress (Progress Illustrierte Film Revue and its successor Progress Film Programm), including nearly complete runs for the period 1950-1965 and 1978-1990, as well as a strong run of the early East German film periodical Neue Film-Welt.

Items within the collection are arranged by series title and, within each series, variously by publication number (when applicable), by title, or date. The dates listed in the inventory generally refer to the date of publication of the program, rather than the date of release of the film. We have listed the titles of all individual films released before 1950 and children’s films released before 1980. The majority of films represented in the collection were made or produced in East Germany, but there are also programs for a number of Soviet, American, and Eastern Bloc films.

Our partners in documenting East German Cinema include the DEFA Film Library at UMass Amherst.