Meteorology

In this interview, Jon Phillips, Assistant Oral Historian for AIP, interviews Peter Gilman, Senior Scientist Emeritus in the High Altitude Observatory at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Gilman recounts his early interest and education in meteorology and introduction to solar physics as an undergraduate, and his graduate research on solar dynamics with Victor Starr at MIT. He describes his early work at the University of Colorado and his move to, and rapid ascent at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Gilman discusses his leadership role as Director of NCAR’s Advanced Study Program, and his own ongoing research in magnetohydrodynamics and helioseismology, followed by an overview of the history of NCAR, the High Altitude Observatory, and the relocation of the National Solar Observatory to Boulder. Gilman goes on to discuss the state of solar dynamo theory and solar-cycle activity predictions, in particular the predictions for solar cycles 24 and 25. The last portion of the interview focuses on the many “firsts” Gilman contributed to the field, particularly in magnetohydrodynamic modeling of the sun.

In this interview, Chuck Hakkarinen discusses topics such as: his career with Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), climate modeling, Model Evaluation Consortium for Climate Assessment (MECCA) project; his education in meteorology and air polution; Willard Libby; University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA); Chauncey Starr; Sam Schurr; Peter Hobbs; his father's work on the Naval Oceanographic Meteorological Automatic Device (NOMAD); precipitation chemistry networks; United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); Rene Males; American Meteorological Society (AMS); Helmut Landsberg; carbon dioxide; climate research; Geophysical Monitoring for Climate Change (GMCC); Ralph Cicerone; George Hidy; Richard Anthes; Warren Washington; National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR); Ralph Perhac; Peter Mueller; North American Regional Climate Change Assessment Program (NARCCAP); Climate Simulation Laboratory; National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA); Ann Henderson-Sellers; Tom Wigley; Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC); Dick Balzhiser.

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.

Brief overview of the history of numerical general circulation models from about 1950-1970, centering on Smagorinsky's group, including Syukuro Manabe, at the U. S. Weather Bureau, The Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, and the General Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, Princeton. Notes the interactions with weather predictions and climate change concerns, especially carbon dioxide warnings (greenhouse effect).

Topics include: his youth and education at the University of Iowa (1959-1967); work on his Ph.D. with Van Allen and Satoshi Matsushima; research at Kyoto University, Japan with Matsushima and Sueo Ueno (1965-1966); NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship (1969); Leiden Observatory, Netherlands, planetary science and his work on Venus; aerosols; building a General Circulation Model; the work of Chandrasekar, Carl Sagan, Jim Pollack, Jastrow, Akio Arakawa, Jules Charney; global warming; collaboration with Wallace Broecker and the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory; working with Northern and Southern hemisphere meteorological station data.

Topics include: his youth and education at the University of Iowa (1959-1967); work on his Ph.D. with Van Allen and Satoshi Matsushima; research at Kyoto University, Japan with Matsushima and Sueo Ueno (1965-1966); NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship (1969); Leiden Observatory, Netherlands, planetary science and his work on Venus; aerosols; building a General Circulation Model; the work of Chandrasekar, Carl Sagan, Jim Pollack, Jastrow, Akio Arakawa, Jules Charney; global warming; collaboration with Wallace Broecker and the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory; working with Northern and Southern hemisphere meteorological station data.

Focussed interview on Elsasser's career in the United States. His decision to emigrate, 1935; on choosing geophysics; California Institute of Technology (Robert Millikan, Theodore von Kármán), 1936-1940; connection between meteorology and work in magnetism; inception of the idea of the dynamo effect (Albert Einstein).

In this interview, Akio Arakawa discusses topics such as: University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA); meteorology; his family and education; University of Tokyo; Japan Meteorological Agency; Hidetoshi Arakawa; fluid dynamics and thermodynamics; Michael Schlesinger; weather prediction; FORTRAN; UNIVAC; Yale Mintz; Chuck Leith; Mark Rhodes; Joseph Smagorinsky; Jule Charney; John Von Neumann; Syukuro Manabe; Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL); International Business Machines Corporation (IBM); Pierre Morel; David Randall; climate models; National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); Milton Halem; Jim Hansen; United States Department of Transportation (DOT); Rand Corporation; Max Suarez; National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR); National Science Foundation (NSF); Thomas Rosmond; National Academy of Sciences; carbon dioxide.

In this interview, Akio Arakawa discusses topics such as: University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA); meteorology; his family and education; University of Tokyo; Japan Meteorological Agency; Hidetoshi Arakawa; fluid dynamics and thermodynamics; Michael Schlesinger; weather prediction; FORTRAN; UNIVAC; Yale Mintz; Chuck Leith; Mark Rhodes; Joseph Smagorinsky; Jule Charney; John Von Neumann; Syukuro Manabe; Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL); International Business Machines Corporation (IBM); Pierre Morel; David Randall; climate models; National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); Milton Halem; Jim Hansen; United States Department of Transportation (DOT); Rand Corporation; Max Suarez; National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR); National Science Foundation (NSF); Thomas Rosmond; National Academy of Sciences; carbon dioxide.

Family background, early life in Brooklyn and Detroit, high school; undergraduate studies at University of Michigan, switch from mathematics to physics. Graduate work at Michigan, 1931-1933; thesis research combines quantum mechanics and infrared spectroscopy. Difficulty finding academic job during Depression; works for Lowell Observatory while at Michigan, 1933-1936; devises long-path absorption cell, research in infrared spectrum of earth's atmosphere. Joins faculty of Johns Hopkins University (Gerhard Dietz), 1935-1936. To Lowell Observatory (Roger Lowell Putnam, V. M. Slipher, E. C. Slipher, C. O. Lampland), 1936; living conditions, constructing the prism spectrometer, studies in earth atmosphere, atmospheric chemistry of Venus, discovery of 20 micron window (Carl Sagan); constructing the grating spectrometer. Adel forced out of Lowell; problems encountered by Adel at Lowell; anti-Semitism. Wartime work in Washington, DC, submarine degaussing (Arthur Bennett), summer 1942. Returns to Michigan, 1941-1945, joins program for training military meteorologists; research to determine causes for failure of lcm radar. Joins McMath-Hulbert Observatory, 1946, discusses staff, autocratic research style. Accepts Air Force contract to build lab at Holloman Air Force Base, Alamagordo, NM to examine effective radiation temperatures of ozone, 1947-1948. Joins faculty of Arizona State College in Flagstaff, 1948; fate of the ozone lab. Air Force funding of Atmospheric Research Observatory at Arizona State College, 1950, establishing a database of ozone research; Yerkes Observatory Symposium, 1947; Gerard Kuiper, Otto Struve. Adel's place in infrared astronomy. Also prominently mentioned are: Ernest F. Barker; Professor Dennison; Edward Epstein; Henry Giclas; Leo Goldberg; Percival Lowell; Ohren Mohler; Henry Norris Russell; Edward Teller; George Uhlenbeck; Harry Wexler