This collection, spanning from the 1950s to the late 2010s, contains extensive professional and personal papers of Dr. Ivar Giaever, Nobel Prize co-winner. A significant portion of the Giaever papers document his thirty-year tenure at the General Electric Corporate Research and Development Center in Schenectady, New York, a period during which Giaever conducted the groundbreaking experiments on electron tunneling in superconductors that led to his share of the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physics. Dr. Giaever co-won the award with Leo Esaki and Brian Josephson.

The collection of GE papers and correspondence includes laboratory notebooks, experimental data, and research reports that trace the evolution of Giaever’s work on superconductivity and tunneling phenomena. Detailed correspondence with colleagues at GE, and other leading scientists around the world, reveal the collaborative nature of his research. Additional administrative records, awards, and internal memos shed light on Giaever’s professional development at GE, from his initial appointment as a research engineer, to his rise as a senior scientist recognized internationally for his work.

Also included in the content are personal correspondence, drafts and reprints of publications, and patent documentation. Dr. Giaever filed over thirty patents throughout his career, with a big focus on microbial detection and electrical impedance sensing. More personal items, such as photographs, newspaper clippings, and scrapbooks that document both Giaever's scientific milestones and personal life events, round out this collection. Other such awards included, like an ASME medal awarded to Dr. Giaever in 2018, showcase Giaever's extensive achievements and entrepreneurial ventures.