Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Guide to the Nobel Voices Video History Project

Summary

Collection ID:
NMAH.AC.0771
Creators:
Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation.
Dates:
2000 - 2001
Languages:
Collection is in
English
. Some materials in
German
and
Spanish
.
Physical Description:
3 Cubic feet
20 boxes
Repository:
Thirty-three videotaped interviews of Nobel Prize laureates, conducted in Lindau, Germany, Washington, D.C., and elsewhere in the United States. The interviews form the core of the Nobel Voices Video History Project and the exhibition "Nobel Voices." Documents and preserves examples of the quest for innovation and its important messages for future generations.

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
The thirty-three interviews total approximately twenty-six and one half hours in length and exist in five formats: digital, BetaCam SP, 1/2" VHS, cassette audio tapes, and transcripts. All five formats document the same interview content for each interviewee. The collection contains original, master, and reference videos, audio tapes, transcripts, production footage (stock and b-roll) and compact disks, documenting thirty-three Nobel laureates. All interviews were conducted by Neil Hollander. The production footage is from a variety of non-profit and commercial sources and there are no transcripts or time logs. The production footage was used in the exhibition interactive Ask the Prizewinners and the Nobel Prize: 100 Years of Creativity and Innovation (interactive CD-ROM). This CD-ROM explores the motivation and vision of Nobel laureates and the history of Alfred Nobel and his prize. This CD-ROM is a resource for educators and others interested in interdisciplinary approaches to stimulating creativity. The Ernst Otto Fischer (Chemistry 1973) interview was not conducted in English and there is no transcript. The Hans-Uno Bengtson interview documents a Swedish physicist and there is no transcript. Five interviews include laureate spouses: Kirsten Fischer Lindahl, Isabella Karle, Margaret Kroto, Nancy Mullis, and Phyllis Osheroff. The video interviews and transcripts are unedited. A three minute edited version of the interviews appears on the web at http:///www.NOfestiBEL.com.

Arrangement

Arrangement
The collection is organized into six series.
Series 1: Original Videos, 2000
Series 2: Master Videos, 2000
Series 3: Reference Videos, 2000
Series 4: Audio Tapes, 2000-2001
Series 5: Transcripts, 2000
Series 6: Production Footage, undated

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
The National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution and the Deutsches Museum collaborated in June 2000 to conduct video interviews with thirty-three Nobel Laureates. Interviews were conducted in Lindau, Germany, Washington, D.C., and elsewhere in the United States. The video documentation subsequently formed the core of the Nobel Voices Video History Project and the exhibition Nobel Voices: Celebrating 100 Years of the Nobel Prize. The interviewees were asked about their motivations, visions for the future, and opinions on the nature of creativity and innovation. In the interviews, the laureates speak about their passion for their work, their childhood inspirations, the spirit of discovery, and the personal meaning of the Nobel Prize.
The Nobel Voices Video History Project documents and preserves examples of the quest for innovation and its important messages for future generations. Interviewees were: Werner Arber, Hans-Uno Bengton, Gunther Blobel, Paul Boyer, Claude Cohen-Tannouudji, Johann Deisenhofer, Kristen Lindahl Deisenhofer, Manfried Eigen, Richard Ernst, Edmond Fischer, Ernst Otto Fischer, Paul Greengard, Jerome Karle, Isabella Karle, Klaus von Klitzing, Walter Kohn, Harold Kroto, Robert B. Laughlin, David Lee, Rudolph A. Marcus, Kary B. Mullis, Nancy Mullis, Erwin Neher, Douglass D. Osheroff, Phyliss L. Osheroff, William D. Phillips, John Polanyi, John Pople, Gerardus t'Hooft, Robert C. Richardson, Jack Steinberger, Samuel C.C. Ting, Charles Townes, Martinus Veltman, and Jody Williams.
The Lemelson Center received generous support for the Nobel Voices exhibit from the Lemelson Foundation. The exhibit was developed in collaboration with the Deutsches Museum, Bonn, Germany, and the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery, with the cooperation of the Meetings of Nobel Prize Winners in Lindau, Germany, annually convened by Countess Sonja Bernadotte of Wisborg, Sweden. Nobel Voices explores the motivation and vision of Nobel laureates and the history of Alfred Nobel and his prize. It features personal video interviews of laureates, candid photographic portraits, and original artifacts, including Albert Einstein's pipe and William Faulkner's tweed jacket and typewriter.
Visitors to the exhibition pass through eight sections telling the story of the Nobel Prize and those who have achieved it: The Nobel Prizes, Nobel Encounters, Inventing the Future, Alfred Nobel: The Man Behind the Prize, The World of the Laureates, Through Young Artists' Eyes, The Nobel Laureates in Lindau, and Images of Nobel Prize Winners from the National Portrait Gallery. For more information about the Nobel Prize and Nobel Laureates see http://nobelprize.org/ administered by the Nobel Foundation.

Administration

Author
Alison Oswald
Processing Information
Processed by Alison Oswald, archivist, August 2001.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The collection was transferred from the Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation, May 18, 2001.
Custodial History
The collection was created by the Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation from 2000 to 2001 in conjunction with the Deutsches Museum in Germany. The principal investigator was Neil Hollander.

Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open for research use.
Preferred Citation
Nobel Voices Oral History Project, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
Conditions Governing Use
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions. Signed release forms on file.

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Medicine Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Chemistry Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Physics Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Inventors -- 20th century Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Nobel Prizes Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Oral history -- 2000-2010 Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Videotapes -- 2000-2010 Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
BetaCam SP (videotape format) Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
VHS (videotape format) Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

Archives Center, National Museum of American History
P.O. Box 37012
Suite 1100, MRC 601
Washington, D.C. 20013-7012
archivescenter@si.edu