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Arthur (Robert S.) Papers
SMC 0070
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Table of contents
Languages:
English
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla 92093-0175
Title: Robert S. Arthur Papers
Creator:
Arthur, Robert S., 1916-1995
Identifier/Call Number: SMC 0070
Physical Description:
.8 Linear feet
(2 archives boxes and 2 oversize folders)
Date (inclusive): 1938-1987
Abstract: A small collection of papers and images from Robert S. Arthur (1916-1995), a physical oceanographer at the Scripps Institution
of Oceanography.
Scope and Content of Collection
A small collection of papers and images from Robert S. Arthur (1916-1995), a physical oceanographer and professor emeritus
at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The collection contains a small amount of correspondence and photographs, including
prints from the 1951 dedication of the T. Wayland Vaughan Aquarium-Museum, and a snapshot of Harald Sverdrup and Walter Munk
from 1946. The bulk of the material consists of teaching outlines and lecture notes from Oceanography 110 (Introduction to
Physical Oceanography), administrative papers relating to courses and historic enrollment at the SIO, and an assortment of
slides documenting the 1952 Shellback expedition, the coastline of La Jolla, the UC San Diego campus, the ship
E.W. Scripps, and Friday Harbor, Washington.
The collection also includes four World War II-era cloth survival charts. To increase the odds of recovery and rescue of airplane
crash survivors in the Pacific, in 1942 the Army Air Forces initiated a contract with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography
to design a series of Pacific area charts illustrating ocean currents and drift patterns. Harold Sverdrup designed an unidentified
number of charts, some of which may have been printed on acetate rayon fabric and distributed to pilots and aircraft personnel.
Charts in this collection were issued by the Naval Air Combat Intelligence, Hydrographic Office (NACI-HO) and Army Air Forces.
Arranged in two series: 1) PAPERS, PHOTOS AND SLIDES, and 2) CLOTH SURVIVAL CHARTS.
Robert Siple Arthur (1916-1995), emeritus professor at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, received his bachelor's degree
in mathematics from the University of Redlands in 1938. He began graduate studies in mathematics at UCLA in 1940, but changed
to meteorology as the United States entered World War II. He was commissioned as an aerological officer in the U.S. Naval
Reserve in 1942 and was assigned to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California, in 1944 to carry out
research with Harald Sverdrup on ocean waves.
Arthur continued at Scripps after the war as a student and received his doctorate in 1950 in physical oceanography. He was
appointed to the faculty in 1951 and retired in 1979. He was a member of the American Geophysical Union and the American Meteorological
Society. He served on many of the Scripps administrative committees.
Arthur published numerous research papers on waves, ocean temperature, currents, and tsunamis during his career, but teaching
physical oceanography remained a primary professional interest.
Adapted from "University of California: In Memoriam, 1996."
Robert S. Arthur Papers. SMC 70. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.
Acquired 1996
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE. ALLOW ONE WEEK FOR RETRIEVAL OF MATERIALS.
Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection.
Slides, one photograph, and the Pacific cloth survival charts from this collection have been digitized.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Oceanography -- Study and teaching
Ocean currents -- Maps
Nautical charts
Arthur, Robert S., 1916-1995 -- Archives
Scripps Institution of Oceanography -- History