The Dr. Russell Harold Johnsen Papers were given to Special Collections by Dr. Johnsen in May 2005

Collection is open to research

Copyright holder for this collection: Copyright has not been transferred to the Florida State University Libraries

All requests for permission to quote, publish, broadcast or otherwise reproduce from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Director of University Libraries. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Florida State University Libraries as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.

The Collection was processed by Special Collections staff member Burt Altman in May-June 2005. For preservation purposes, all newsclippings were photocopied. Duplicate items were returned to the donor

Dr. Russell Harold Johnsen Papers, Special Collections, Florida State University Libraries, Tallahassee, Florida

The Russell Harold Johnsen Papers documents the development of the nuclear science and radiation chemistry programs at Florida State University from the 1950s through the 1960s. FSU began its nuclear program in 1955. It was the direct outgrowth of a recommendation by the Conference of Southern Governors, which called for southern states to develop nuclear science programs in institutions of higher education. Governor LeRoy Collins that year appointed a nine-man committee to set up a nuclear program, and in 1957 the Florida legislature appropriated $5.25 million for studies at FSU, the University of Florida, and Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University.

The Johnsen Collection documents the early history of the Center for Research in College Instruction of Science and Mathematics (CRICISAM). CRICISAM was a cooperative effort of 18 major universities to investigate, develop, and disseminate new materials, techniques, and syllabi for teaching in various fields of science and mathematics on the college level. FSU served as the "executive headquarters" for the Center, which began its operations on April 1, 1966. FSU Physics Professor Dr. Guenter Schwarz was its director, and Johnsen was elected its Vice-Chair. According to Dr. Johnsen, the Center terminated its operations in the early 1970s.

The collection also illustrates the work of the Florida Committee on Science and Public Affairs, a committee of science professors from several Florida universities that was formed in 1952 "to disseminate information on critical issues involving science and the public domain." In May 1952, this committee, which included Johnsen and 12 FSU colleagues, wrote a letter to the editors of Science protesting the U.S. State Department's denial of a passport to chemist Linus Pauling to visit Great Britain, calling it a threat to scientific research and to "the democratic tradition of this country." Pauling's passport had been refused because his anticommunist statements were "not strong enough."

Arranged alphabetically, the papers of Dr. Russell H. Johnsen comprise subject files of correspondence, news clippings, reports, photographs, and several publications illustrating his activities in the development of the nuclear science and radiation chemistry programs and the Center for Research in College Instruction of Science and Mathematics at Florida State University (FSU), primarily from the late 1950s through the late 1960s. There are also letters and news clippings documenting the 1952 Linus Pauling affair.

In addition to covering these important aspects of Johnsen's professional career, the collection is significant because it illustrates the development of higher education programs in nuclear physics and chemistry and changes in teaching science and mathematics during the 1950s and 1960s.