Oral History Interview with Lucy Benson

Interview by Joel E. Gordon on Jan. 23, 2008

Lucy Wilson Benson, former president of the League of Women Voters and previous US undersecretary of state and wife of physics professor, Bruce Benson, interviewed by Joel Gordon, former professor of physics.

Biographies

Lucy Benson is a graduate of Smith College, served as president of the National League of Women Voters (1968-1974), secretary of human services for Massachusetts (1975-1977), and U.S. undersecretary of state for security assistance, science, and technology (1977-1980). She was married to Bruce B. Benson who was a professor pf physics at Amherst from 1946-1990 and in 1974 she was awarded an honorary Amherst degree. There is now a Bruce B. Benson '43 and Lucy Wilson Benson Professorship in Physics.

Joel E. Gordon was the Stone Professor of Natural Science upon his retirement from the faculty in 2000 after forty-three years of teaching at Amherst. His focus was slow-temperature physics and superconductivity. He also served for eight years as the book review editor for the American Journal of Physics.  


Rights and Citation Information

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