This is an original, typed letter on personal stationery, dated October 12, 1950, and signed in ink by J. Robert Oppenheimer. The letter is addressed to Edwin H. Land—the brilliant inventor of the Polaroid Land camera—regarding Land’s service on the Committee to Visit the Department of Physics at an unspecified institution (likely Harvard or MIT, given the context).
In the letter, Oppenheimer writes on behalf of an Executive Committee to thank Land for agreeing to serve, and schedules the committee's autumn meeting for November 9. Oppenheimer notes that the agenda will focus on “departmental appointments and the allocation of laboratory resources,” matters he recognizes align with Land’s interests. The letter concludes with the warm closing, “With every good wish, Robert Oppenheimer.”
Historical Significance:
This correspondence connects two of the 20th century's greatest scientific minds. J. Robert Oppenheimer, then director of the Institute for Advanced Study and the former head of the Manhattan Project, writes to Edwin H. Land, a pioneering inventor, industrialist, and government adviser during the same Cold War era. The content provides a fascinating glimpse into academic and scientific administration at the highest levels during a pivotal time in American science.