National Air and Space Museum Archives

Richard Tousey Papers

Summary

Collection ID:
NASM.1997.0004
Creators:
Tousey, Richard, 1908-1997
Dates:
[ca. 1940s-1980s]
bulk [ca. 1960s]
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
14.13 Cubic feet
(7 records center boxes) (17 other boxes) (1 flatboxes)
Repository:

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
This collection consists of Tousey's professional papers, including the following types of material: notebooks, correspondence, speeches, minutes and proceedings, photographs and prints, coronagraphs, film, oral interview transcripts, lantern slides and glass plates.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Richard Tousey (1908 - 1997) was a prominent Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) space scientist whose career spans the V-2, Aerobee, OSO, Solrad, and Skylab eras. Tousey graduated from Tufts College in 1928, and received his Ph.D. in physics from Harvard in 1933. After teaching physics and conducting research at Harvard and Tufts, Tousey began his long association with the NRL -- starting first in the Optics Division (1941) and then working in the Atmosphere and Astrophysics Division (1959). Under Tousey's direction, a series of high-altitude probes, beginning in 1946 with the use of captured German V-2 rockets, produced the first detailed record of the sun's radiation in the far ultraviolet region of the spectrum. In addition to his important work relating to the solar spectrum, Tousey also contributed to the fields of vision and atmospheric optics. Later in his career, Tousey guided the NRL's program of research on the visibility of earth satellites and was the head of the Rocket Spectroscopy Branch of the NRL. Tousey was a prolific writer and a frequent contributor to the 'Journal of the Optical Society of America.' He was the recipient of many awards, including: the Progress Medal of the Photographic Society of America; the Frederick Ives Medal of the Optical Society of American; the Prix Ancel of the Societe Francasie de Photographie; and the Draper Medal.

Administration

Immediate Source of Acquisition
David van Keuren/Dean Bundy -- NRL, Transfer, 1996, 1997-004, Public Domain

Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Use
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests

More Information

General

General
NASMrev


Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Spectrograph Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
V-2 rocket Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Spectrum, Solar Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Visual fields Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Meteorological optics Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Atmosphere, Upper -- Rocket observations Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Astronautics Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Glass negatives Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Lantern slides Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Transcripts Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Photographs Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Minutes Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Speeches Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Correspondence Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Tousey, Richard, 1908-1997 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Naval Research Laboratory (U.S.) Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Naval Research Laboratory (U.S.), Rocket Spectroscopy Branch Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

National Air and Space Museum Archives
14390 Air & Space Museum Parkway
Chantilly, VA 20151
NASMRefDesk@si.edu