University of Minnesota

Interviewed by
Ronald Doel
Interview date
Location
Middleburg, Virginia
Abstract

Descriptions of other Spilhaus oral history interviews that cover childhood as well as career in education and public service; impressions of graduate education at Massachusetts Institute of Technlogy (MIT), early 1930s; work at Sperry Corporation. Meteorological research at MIT (C.-G. Rossby, C. S. Draper); meteorological work with Technical Services, South African Army, 1935-1936. Return to MIT, 1936; develops bathythermograph; life at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Professorship in Meteorology at New York University; impressions of department. Develops ozone research project; post-World War II involvement in numerical weather forecasting (John Von Neumann). Dean of Institute of Technology at University of Minnesota, 1949-1966; involvement in weapons testing, involvement in United States National Committee of the International Geophysical Year; impressions of committee members and its operations. National Academy of Sciences advisory panels on oceanography and waste management. Personal philosophy.

Interviewed by
Roger H. Stuewer
Interview date
Location
University of Minnesota
Abstract

Family background, early schooling; undergraduate studies at Case Institute of Technology (B.S. 1917); assistant physicist at National Bureau of Standards (1917-19); research on piezoelectricity of sodium chlorate and bromate; World War I work in pyrometry and optical glass manufacture; graduate studies at University of Minnesota (MA. 1920, teaching assistant 1919-20, Ph.D. 1921, instructor of physics, 1920-21), member of physics faculty; research on ferroelectricity of Rochelle Salt Crystals and location of Curie Points; X-ray spectroscopy research at University of Upsala, Sweden 1928-29; comments on nuclear physics at University of Minnesota.

Interviewed by
Ronald Doel
Interview date
Location
Santa Barbara, California
Abstract

Born in California in 1911; recollections of childhood. Undergraduate studies in geology at California Institute of Technology, then one year of graduate work (J. P. Buwald, Chester Stock, William Morris Davis). Graduate studies in geology at Harvard University (R. A. Daly, Kirk Bryan, Percy Bridgman, Francis Birch, David Griggs), 1935-1938; comparisons between Harvard University and Caltech. To University of Illinois for teaching position, 1938-1943; summer research in geomorphology and glaciology. Research in Army Air Force during World War II. Accepts position at University of Minnesota (Larry Gould); professorship at Caltech, 1947. Debates over geochemical and geophysical approaches to geology; reassessment of curriculum in Division of Geological Sciences; decision to encourage research in space and planetary sciences (Harrison Brown), late 1950s.

Interviewed by
Albert Bartlett and Joan Warnow
Interview date
Location
Boulder, Colorado
Abstract

This interview begins with a lengthy discussion of his family history, and more personal anecdotes emerge throughout the interview.  After the family history, Broxon discusses his undergraduate education at Wabash College.  There is a brief discussion of Broxon's Law, concerning the flow of electricity inside the sun and around sunspots.  Broxon then goes on to discuss his scientific training at the University of Minnesota, his early experiences at Yale, and the construction of early ionization chambers.  The subject then changes to a brief account of his time associated with the Manhattan Project, both in Chicago and Los Alamos.  The interview concludes with a few personal reminiscences, prompted by photographs in Broxon's personal albums.  Other affiliations discussed include Dr. W.F.G. Swann and Oliver C. Lester.

Interviewed by
David DeVorkin
Interview date
Location
Aerospace Corporation, El Segundo, California
Abstract

Concentrates on Bergstrahl's work at NRL (1946-56), principally as an experiment integrator for rocket flights, with additional coverage of his later work at Ford Aeroneutronics and Aerospace Corporation. Besides discussing the procedures and problems of integrating experiments, Bergstrahl relates his work at NRL on early attempts at high altitude photography, on rocket impact point prediction systems, and on cosmic ray balloon research. The discussion of his years (1956-62) at Ford Aeroneutronics examines his work on lunar and planetary studies, including work on the Ranger Hard Lander.

Interviewed by
Leon Gortler
Interview date
Location
New Hampton, New Hampshire
Abstract

Family background; father’s education; early education and musical interest; Amherst College with graduate fellowship; graduate school at Harvard University; influence of Elmer Kohler’s course on early research problems, bromination of ketones. Comments on staff, fellow students and influential faculty at Harvard (James B. Conant); teaching policies at Harvard. Postdoctoral work at Rockefeller Institute and Columbia University; wife’s contribution to career; University of Minnesota position, comments on Charles Frederick Koelsch’s work and on the facilities at Minnesota. Discussions of own work and works of Richard S. Berry, Robert Henry Rosenwald, Irving POkel. Research funds at University of Minnesota, the importance of National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Institutes of Health (NIH); move to Harvard, lengthy comments on teaching, graduate students and faculty, as well as on other organic chemists (Christopher Ingolf, William Gould Young, Howard Lucas); status of physical organic chemistry and the future of chemistry.

Interviewed by
Ronald Doel
Interview date
Location
Evanston, Illinois
Abstract

In this interview, Richard T. Arnold discusses his life and career. Topics discussed include: Southern Illinois University; organic chemistry; Otis B. Young; Kenneth Van Lente; J. W. Neckers; T. W. Abbott; Robert A. Scott; Roger Adams; University of Illinois; R. C. "Bob" Fuson; Carl Shipp "Speed" Marvel; Ralph L. Shriner; Harold Snyder; Worth Huff Rodebush; University of Minnesota; Richard Willstätter; stereochemistry; Lee Irvin Smith; E. P. Kohler; antimalarial research in World War II; Leopold Ruzicka; Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich; University of California, Berkeley; Mel Calvin; carbon-14; Joseph Koepfli; Alfred P. Sloan; James B. Conant; Karl Freudenberg; Kurt Alder; Rolf Huisgen; Otto Bayer; Walter Rappe; General Clay;  Springer-Verlag; Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung; Alfred P. Sloan Foundation; Albert Tucker; W. Albert Noyes, Jr.; Fred Seitz; Warren Weaver; Larkin H. "Monk" Farinholt; Wallace R. Brode.