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Tape Recorded Interview Project (AMS-TRIP)

ABSTRACTS

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P

ANDERSON, CHARLES E.

Topics include: Experience in wartime Army Air Corps meteorology program at University of Chicago, for the Tuskegee Airmen, and at other USAAF bases; postwar study of high polymer chemistry; work at Watson Laboratories in atmospheric analysis; publication of “Cumulus Dynamics”; work as sponsor of basic research for USAF; on cloud seeding; as cloud physics project officer for Operation Greenhouse; as head of the atmospheric analysis group at Douglas Aircraft; as expedition meteorologist for 1963 solar eclipse (Alaska); work as research manager at ESSA; as professor of meteorology at University of Wisconsin; study of tornadic thunderstorms; family and educational history.

ATLAS, DAVID

Dr. David Atlas recounts his early aspirations to science; the graduate education he received at the City College of New York, the New York University Air Force Meteorology Program, Harvard and MIT; and his preliminary involvement in meteorology during World War II, including his contributions to radar technology while assigned to the All-Weather Flying Division (AWFD) at Wright Field , Ohio . He describes his work and colleagues at the Air Force Cambridge Research Labs, now the Air Force Geophysics Lab; the formation of the Joint Laboratory for Atmospheric Probing during his tenure at the University of Chicago ; his role and that of colleagues in the progress of Doppler Radar research in the 1960's; and his decision to join NCAR in 1972. Dr. Atlas also details his directorship of the National Hail Research Experiment (NHRE) during hail suppression and seeding experiments. Finally he discusses his accomplishments at NASA Goddard.

BATTAN, LOU

In "Thoughts on Radar Meteorology", Louis J. Battan relates his involvement in research on thunderstorms, hail scattering, and Doppler radar among other projects. He highlights what he believes are his most significant accomplishments. Comments dictated at the request of David Atlas.

BENTON, GEORGE

Topics include: Work for Soil Conservation Service (WPA); as Observer for the U.S. Weather Bureau; wartime meteorological study at the University of Chicago; Carl-Gustav Rossby and his influence on the science; Trinity test forecast; first attempts to forecast dispersion of radioactive fallout in North America; discovery of the jet stream; work in hydrometeorology; teaching at the University of Chicago and Johns Hopkins; formation of ERL, ESSA and NOAA; BOMEX; the WMO, NAS, UCAR; Soviet Union and hail prevention; trip to the People's Republic of China.

BOLLAY, EUGENE

Topics include: Education as electrical engineer; assistantship at Caltech under Irving Krick; influence of Petterssen and Rossby; work in hydrology at US Weather Bureau; as teacher of meteorology during World War II; wartime service in forecasting for bombing raids; meteorologiy at the Office of Naval Research postwar; activities of the American Meteorological Society, including AMS certification programs; as president of AMS; establishment of weather modification business with Bob Elliott, (North American Weather Consultants); cloud seeding in the western U.S.; support for university research in cloud physics and weather modification; attempts to modify hurricanes; youth and family.

BUNDGAARD, ROBERT C.

Robert C. Bundgaard begins by describing his family and youth in Denver, Colorado, and his early interest in music and mathematics. He discusses his education at the University of Denver ; work at the Mount Evans Observatory under Joyce Stearns, investigating the influence of [cosmic] radiation on fruit flies, and graduate work at Columbia University . He comments on his activities as an aviation cadet in meteorology at UCLA under Joe Kaplan and Jac Bjerknes, and other instructors. He reports on subsequent work at the Pentagon Weather Central as part of the Long Range Forecasting Units, describing forecasting techniques using desk calculators. Next, he details his posting to southern England to help forecast for the Allied strategic bombing campaign and pending invasion of Normandy , and discusses his group's upper air forecasting efforts, Soviet weather observations, and the 21 st Weather Squadron. Finally, he describes the consensus D-Day invasion (Operation Overlord) forecast as it was prepared by the various Allied meteorology groups, commenting on the activities of Don Yates, Ben Holzman, Irving Krick, Sverre Petterssen, and J. M. Stagg.

BYERS, HORACE R.

Horace R. Byers describes his undergraduate career and subsequent position as meteorological observer for the U. S. Weather Bureau (1925) at the University of California at Berkeley . He discusses the El Niño phenomenon as it was understood in the 1920's, and comments on later discoveries. He talks about his work as assistant to Carl-Gustaf Rossby operating a “model airway” in California for the Daniel Guggenheim Fund, commenting on the state of American meteorology in the 1920's. He describes the advent of university meteorology departments at Caltech, MIT, and the University of Chicago , including his own graduate work at MIT under Rossby and Hurd Willett. He reviews theoretical developments in meteorology in the 1930's as well as reflecting on his own work in cloud physics; Rossby's work on turbulence and rotating tank experiments with Dave Fultz; formation of the “Milliken Committee” to overhaul the Weather Bureau in the 1930's. He details the creation of the wartime university meteorological programs (Caltech, UCLA, MIT, NYU, and Chicago), which turned out highly trained military personnel and spurred postwar development of the science. He discusses the Thunderstorm Project, and subsequent activity in weather modification in the United States.

CARTWRIGHT, GORDON

Topics include: youth; first position at US Weather Bureau; development of the Aviation Weather Service; centralization of forecasting; development of instrumentation; work for Transatlantic Weather Service; aviation cadet program at NYU during World War II; analysis of Northern Hemisphere Surface Maps; postwar work in observing systems at the Weather Bureau; formation of ICAO [International Civil Aviation Organization] and North Atlantic meteorological stations; work of Irving Krick; rebuilding upper air stations and training observers in the Pacific; history of the IGY; the IGY and Southern Hemisphere weather maps; comments on weather detection radar as well as cooperation between the National Weather Service and NASA regarding satellite programs; the WMO and its organization.

CRESSMAN, GEORGE

George Cressman describes his youthful interest in weather; discusses his undergraduated education at Penn State and training at NYU as an aviation cadet in meteorology during World War II. He discusses postwar research in Puerto Rico and at the University of Chicago under Rossby and Palmén. He comments on the attempt to apply barotropic ideas for forecasting long wave motion. He describes his consultant duties for the USAF Air Weather Service under Sverre Petterssen, including forecasting for atomic bomb tests at the Nevada Proving Grounds. He details his role in the nascent JNWPU and the unit's eventual evolution into the National Meteorological Center (NMC). He talks about NMC activities during his tenure as director. He highlights his attempts through WMO to standardize codes for worldwide data exchange. He describes the first hurricane model and development of the Cressman analysis system. He comments on the breakup of the Weather Bureau and formation of ESSA, NOAA and ERL. Finally, he describes his challenges as director of the Weather Bureau/National Weather Service, comments on the impact of meteorological satellites on forecasting and discusses the development of the limited-area fine-mesh model. He concludes by discussing his meteorological consulting activities in various countries.

CROW, LOREN

Topics include: undergraduate work; aviation cadet program in meteorology at Caltech; service in Guam and Saipan; forecasting for bombing raids over Japanese cities, and response of B-29 pilots; first verification of upper-level jetstream; destruction in postwar Japan; establishment of Offutt Air Force Base Weather Central; work for Irving Krick's International Meteorology Consulting Service in England, then in weather modification in the United States; establishment of own applied meteorology business; work with air conditioning industry, designers of cooling towers, consulting meteorologist for ESSA (predecessor to NOAA); AMS certified consulting meteorologist program; National Council of Industrial Meteorologists; assignments from National Science Foundation, including a review of weather modification programs; forensic meteorology, and other projects.

CULNAN, ROBERT

Robert Culnan describes his graduate education and teaching of the aviation cadet classes in meteorology at New York University (1940-1945). He discusses his 36 year career in the U.S. Weather Bureau, much of it working with Harry Wexler. He comments on the various programs and research developments of those years, including the Dobson network for ozone measurement; USWB support of university research; establishment of hurricane and severe storm research programs; advent of the IGY; Dave Keeling's carbon dioxide studies; the weather satellite program; evolution of the USWB through ESSA and NOAA. He concludes by describing his youth and education, and earliest work for the USWB in California.

ELSASSER, WALTER

Walter M. Elsasser discusses his research in geophysics and atmospheric radiation, 1937-1942, and his work at the California Institute of Technology, and the Blue Hill Observatory. The strengths of the interview are his comments about other scientists, including Charles Brooks, John Strong, and Carl-Gustaf Rossby.

FUJITA, TETSUYA T.

Dr. Fujita's early years in Japan and growing interest in natural phenomena and measurement are discussed, followed by a description of his education at Tokyo University leading to his thesis, an analytical study of typhoons. He recounts his work as research assistant on the Thunderstorm Project under Horace Byers; his professorship at the University of California; his first major field project studying clouds at San Francisco Mountain in Flagstaff, Arizona; his interest in mesoscale disturbances; his investigation of a tornadic storm in Fargo, North Dakota; and the sometimes conflicting ideas in research, the resistance to and the eventual acceptance of his theories relating to downbursts and tornadoes. Dr. Fujita explains his interest in expanding his research on wind and storms to a global scale.

FULTZ, DAVE

Topics include: parents; early life in Tirane, Albania; influential teachers in high school; undergraduate education at University of Chicago; pilot training; aviation cadet program at University of Chicago, and service in Pacific during World War II; C.G. Rossby; U.S. Weather Bureau; constant absolute vorticity (CAV) trajectories; historic rotation experiments; development of dishpan experiments to model atmospheric and ocean circulation; Ferguson Hall; University of Chicago Hydro Lab; two-layer polar vortex experiments; Taylor walls; S. Chandrasekhar; Guggenheim Fellowship and experiments at Cambridge; L. Prandtl; Y. Nakagawa; W. von Arx; R. Hide’s annulus experiments; ocean basin model; Herbert Riehl; graduate student research; collaboration with Tom Spence; National Science Foundation grant; film on rotating fluids; air pollution review board.

KRAUS, ERIC

Eric Kraus begins by describing his youth, family, teachers and friends in prewar Czechoslovakia ; his schooling in Switzerland , Vienna , Bergen , Norway , and Prague . He recounts wartime activities in the French Air Force and the Royal Air Force, where he set up meteorological flights for weather forecasting. He discusses his work as a radiophysicist for CSIRO in Australia ; as a lecturer at the University of Sydney ; his role in the Snowy Mountains Authority. He recalls his experiments with weather modification and growing skepticism regarding its practicality. Next he describes the Rossby Fellowship, which brought him to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in 1961, and his contributions to the study of the interaction of the atmosphere and the ocean; in the study of upper ocean layers and large-scale energy transport in the ocean. He talks about his tenure as director of the Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies, University of Miami , as well as his work at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the University of Colorado.

KUETTNER, JOACHIM P.

Topics include: piloting gliders; postwar work in atmospheric electricity at Zugspitze Observatory; cloud streets; the Scorer Parameter; work for NASA on the Mercury and Apollo Projects; convection waves; mountain waves; Sierra Wave Project; science in Germany; invitation to UCLA; BOMEX project and sea-air interaction; GATE project; TOGA-COARE; CEPEX; data management; STORM project.

LALLY, VINCENT

Vincent Lally describes his undergraduate education and meteorological training at the University of Chicago as an aviation cadet. He discusses his work as chief of meteorological equipment development at Air Force Cambridge Research Lab, and mentions Project 119-L (“Moby Dick”). He comments on the beginnings of NCAR and his role in creating the National Scientific Balloon Facility (NSBF). He describes using zero-pressure balloons during the first flights from the NSBF in Palestine, Texas. He talks about research with super-pressure balloons and the establishment of a flight station at Christchurch, New Zealand, with a description of the GHOST research program.

He comments on France 's super-pressure balloon program and discusses plans for a major joint US-French Southern Hemisphere experiment, as part of the GARP Global Weather Experiment. He notes the successful demonstration of the Carrier Balloon System in conjunction with the GOES satellite. He comments on the present state and future of scientific ballooning, describing the major improvements in navigation systems developed at NCAR, his role as consultant on manned balloon flights, and concludes with an anecdote about the sensitivity of weather balloons overflying Russia.

LEVIN, ZEV

Topics include: childhood, family, and education in Israel; development of interest in science; university education in the United States; study with Peter Hobbs, Morris Neiburger; research in atmospheric electricity, ice nucleation, hydrodynamic interaction of particles, cloud seeding, mechanisms for charge separation in clouds, dust; teaching, research and administration at Tel Aviv University; establishment of School for Environmental Studies; graduate students; involvement with the Columbia Space Shuttle.

LORENZ, EDWARD AND PHILIP THOMPSON

Edward Lorenz and Phil Thompson interview each other about their educational background, experiences at NCAR, and their research. Ed Lorenz, Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and frequent NCAR visitor, discusses his involvement with the problem of available potential energy, his work with Eric Kraus on air/sea interactions, and his scientific contributions including his research on predictability and long range forecasting and the development of the Lorenz attractor sets. He comments on the staff size and atmosphere for conducting research at NCAR in the early 1960's.

Phil Thompson, NCAR senior scientist, talks about the early influences of Jule Charney, John von Neumann, and Carl-Gustaf Rossby on his career in meteorology; the development of the Numerical Weather Prediction Model; atmospheric modelling of turbulence using computers; and his experiences as an NCAR administrator and scientist.

MACHTA, LESTER

Topics include: forecasting school at Chanute Field during World War II; postwar graduate work at MIT; thesis on analysis of ageostrophic winds; work in the Special Project Section of the U.S. Weather Bureau; support by the U.S. Air Force (AFOAT-1) to detect Soviet atomic bomb detonations, and later Chinese tests; work on the transport of radioactive debris and its influence on early global circulation models; comments on American atmospheric nuclear tests; involvement with the U.N. and World Meteorological Organization (WMO) on radiation issues; work on the global carbon dioxide budget, with Dave Keeling, and monitoring at the baseline stations; meteorological support from NOAA for EPA; work on solar ultraviolet-B radiation and ozone depletion; the sea surface temperature (SST) controversy; as recipient of the Cleveland Abbe Award from AMS; the importance of computers in forecasting.

MALONE, THOMAS F.

Thomas F. Malone recalls his early years on a ranch in South Dakota, his education in the 1930's at the School of Mines in Rapid City, S. D., and graduate work at MIT. He recounts his experiences as an aviation cadet in meteorology during World War II in China and Africa. He discusses his growing interest in international, social and global issues, prompted by his friendship with Jule Charney, and manifested in efforts to encourage effective global cooperation in weather research. The role of John F. Kennedy in this endeavor is detailed, as well as [other] key events. He discusses his involvement in developing a research program for Traveler's Insurance Company Research Center in 1954-55, which broadened his interest in geophysics. He reviews the activities of GEMPAK Analysis & Rendering Program (GARP), International Union of Geodesy & Geophysics (IUGG), Joint Organizaing Committee (JOC). He comments on the work of Oliver Sutton, Horace Byers, Peter Shepherd, Joseph Kaplan of UCLA, John Seabridge, Reginald Sutcliffe and Sir John Mason.

MCNEIL, HOWARD

Topics include: family and childhood in Chicago; early interest in aviation and weather; work as aviation mechanic at Chanute Field; enlistment in U.S. Army Air Corps and pilot training; wartime flight assignments, including practice bombing runs; witnessing Trinity atomic bomb test from an aircraft; later study of fallout; postwar training as high-altitude forecaster; work on jet streams; overseas assignment in Japan during Korean War; first flight in typhoon with Jimmy Doolittle; weather reconnaissance; work with the Hurricane Hunters in Bermuda, “sea gull” flights; comments on Pacific typhoons; weather modification work for Irving Krick in Denver; assignments at Lockheed, for Denver Water Board, Florida, Dallas, TV weathercasters; Krick and the Weather Bureau; return to Air Weather Service and as TV weathercaster for various stations; Harry Truman and the Trinity test; radiation effects; progress in forecasting.

MEREWETHER, ARTHUR

Topics include: Ken Spengler; Army Air Corps; university meteorological programs; aircraft and severe cold; American Airlines weather service; MIT; Reichelderfer; Rossby; Air Weather Service commanders; Krick; AMS; early aviation; family and childhood; baseball career.

MUNK, WALTER

Topics include: childhood and family; immigration from Austria; early schooling; education at Caltech and Scripps; as student of Harald Sverdrup; wartime work on wave prediction for landing craft; spectroscopy in physical oceanography; comments about Carl Eckhart; work with Roger Revelle; establishment of IGGP, architectural design of building, recruitment of staff, research topics; prominent graduate students.

NEWTON, CHESTER

Interview by Fankhauser. Topics include: family, childhood, education; entry into meteorology; first job as weather observer, USWB; wartime assignment as aviation cadet to University of Chicago; reflections on Rossby, Platzman, Cressman, Palmén, Biel; development of upper air sounding network; doctoral research on shear lines; Thunderstorm Project; work on frontogenesis, and collaboration with Palmén; work with Petterssen on cyclone development; interest in squall lines and thunderstorms, and assignment as chief scientist for National Severe Storms Project; invitation to join NCAR as director of synoptic meteorology group; comments about the National Hail Research Experiment, the Monthly Weather Review, and the AMS; most significant publications; the Palmén Memorial Volume; reflections on role in atmospheric science

PHILLIPS, NORMAN

Topics covered: family background and education; service as aviation cadet and in a Weather Service squadron in the Azores during WWII; education under Victor Starr, Carl-Gustav Rossby, Erik Palmén, and George Platzman; collaboration on the second Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator (ENIAC) expedition; as pioneer in numerical weather prediction at the Institute for Advanced Study, and work on the two-layer model; von Neumann's role in the genesis of the Electronic Computer Project; appointment by Rossby to the Institute of Meteorology in Stockholm; collaboration with Jule Charney; plan for a general circulation experiment; consulting work for the Joint Numerical Weather Prediction Unit; discusses his move to MIT, and his tenure as department chair; his graduate students at MIT; editorship of JAS; work with Walter Munk and others; departure from MIT to do research on the nested-grid model at National Meteorological Center (NMC); involvement with First GARP Global Experiment (FGGE); comments on the National Earth Satellite Service (NESS) data retrieval system; developments in analysis and assimilation; the influence of his work for the National Academy of Sciences; current work on the emergence of quasi-geostrophic theory; his thoughts on the development of numerical weather prediction.

PLATZMAN, GEORGE

Topics include: family background and early education; undergraduate and graduate work; work in quality-control statistics, and as both student and instructor in wartime meteorology classes; work for the Army Corps of Engineers; editorship of the Journal of Meteorology; work on Stokes Waves; Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator (ENIAC) calculations; involvement with numerical weather prediction; thoughts on teaching; spectral methods; lattice structure of grids; early hydraulics modeling; Great Lakes research; storm surges; atmospheric tides; history of meteorology; formation of NCAR; reflections on students.