Symposium in Celebration of the 75th Birthday of Roger R. Revelle recordings

Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
Copyright 2020
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla 92093-0175
spcoll@ucsd.edu


Descriptive Summary

Contributing Institution: Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla 92093-0175
Title: Symposium in Celebration of the 75th Birthday of Roger R. Revelle recordings
Identifier/Call Number: SMC 0073
Physical Description: 1 Linear feet (1 record carton)
Date: 1984 March 9-10
Abstract: Sound and video recordings of lecture presentations given at a two-day Symposium in Celebration of the 75th Birthday of Roger R. Revelle held on March 9-10, 1984.
Languages: English .

Scope and Content of Collection

Sound and video recordings of lecture presentations given at a two-day Symposium in Celebration of the 75th Birthday of Roger R. Revelle, held on March 9-10, 1984. The themes for the presentations were: food, energy and population; the Earth, climate, and carbon dioxide; and science and society. Speakers included: William A. Nierenberg, Keith A. Brueckner, Harrison S. Brown, Jean Mayer, J. Tuzo Wilson, Robert M. Garrels, Glenn Seaborg, Rollin Eckis, and Emilio Q. Daddario, with concluding remarks by Revelle himself. Introductions were provided by notable scientists, including: Charles David Keeling, Walter Munk, Harmon Craig, Bill Menard and Edward Goldberg.
A program  for the event outlines the order of talks, and the recordings are described in the container list below. Descriptions may include small inaccuracies as they were based on an older inventory.
Arranged in two series: 1) U-MATIC VIDEO, and 2) AUDIOCASSETTE.

Historical Background

Roger Randall Dougan Revelle (1909-1991) was a scientist, academic administrator and early theorist on the subject of climate change. He earned a B.S. in Geology from Pomona College in 1929 and a Ph.D. in Oceanography from the University of California, Berkeley in 1936 after completing a research assistantship at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO). During his graduate work at SIO, Revelle was initially tasked to gather and analyze samples of marine sediments collected by research vessels. However, he became increasingly interested in a parallel investigation into the solubility of calcium carbonate and carbon dioxide in sea water. This early research on the carbon cycle was the foundation for his lifelong study of the connection between anthropogenic fossil fuel emissions and atmospheric carbon dioxide levels.
During World War II Revelle served as a sonar officer assigned to the U.S. Navy Sound Laboratory in San Diego from 1941 to 1942. During this time he also served as a project officer for the University of California Division of War Research. In 1946 he was appointed Commander of the Subsection on Water Studies for the Bureau of Ships. He was officially commended for his outstanding work by the Secretary of the Navy, and his emergent reputation would later allow him to effect considerable influence in naval oceanographic research programs. He received several promotions and was appointed Chief Liaison between the U.S. Navy and the many divisions of the National Defense Research Committee, including the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the Underwater Sound Laboratory and the Harvard University Underwater Sound Group.
He returned to SIO in 1948, where he served as director from 1951 to 1964. During this time he was a formative advocate for a new University of California campus in San Diego in the late 1950s. Under his directorship SIO was designated as the primary research center for the Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Program of the International Geophysical Year. In 1956 Charles David Keeling joined SIO to lead the project, and its activities reinforced Revelle's interest in the global repercussions of carbon dioxide and climate change.
Revelle left SIO in 1964, formally switching fields from oceanography to public policy, and founded the Harvard Center for Population Studies where he served as director until 1976. During this time, he pioneered the application of science and technology to developing countries and world hunger. He then returned to UC San Diego as a Professor of Science and Public Policy in the Department of Political Science until his retirement.
Roger Revelle served in countless professional capacities spanning a variety of fields and projects. Among his many positions, he served as the first Science Advisor to the Secretary of the Interior, President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a chairman of the NASA Advisory Council. Under his leadership, the President's Science Advisory Committee Panel on Environmental Pollution published the first authoritative report recognizing carbon dioxide as a global concern in 1965. He also chaired the Energy and Climate Panel of the National Academy of Sciences which demonstrated that two-thirds of remaining atmospheric carbon dioxide exists as a result of fossil fuel pollution. One of his most prominent assignments was a presidential appointment as chairman of the Interior Panel on Waterlogging and Salinity in West Pakistan. He received the National Medal of Science in 1990, remarking: "I got it for being the grandfather of the greenhouse effect."

Preferred Citation

Symposium in Celebration of the 75th Birthday of Roger R. Revelle recordings. SMC 73. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.

Acquisition Information

Acquired 1984

OFF-SITE STORAGE

COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE. ALLOW ONE WEEK FOR RETRIEVAL OF MATERIALS.

Publication Rights

Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection.

Digital Content

Recordings have been digitally reformatted.

Restrictions

Original recordings are restricted. Listening/viewing copies may be available for researchers.

Related Materials

The Revelle Impact: Remarks, by the Hon. Emilio Quincy Daddario. A transcript of a speech delivered on March 10, 1984 at a symposium held at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, honoring the 75th birthday of Roger Revelle. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Revelle, Roger, 1909-1991
Nierenberg, William A. (William Aaron), 1919-2000
Brueckner, Keith A.
Goldberg, Edward D.
Brown, Harrison, 1917-1986
Mayer, Jean, 1920-1993
Menard, Henry W. (Henry William), 1920-1986
Wilson, J. Tuzo (John Tuzo), 1908-1993
Craig, Harmon
Keeling, Charles D., 1928-2005
Seaborg, Glenn T. (Glenn Theodore), 1912-1999
Eckis, Rollin P.
Daddario, Emilio Q. (Emilio Quincy), 1918-2010
Revelle, Roger, 1909-1991
Garrels, Robert M. (Robert Minard), 1916-1988

 

U-MATIC VIDEO

Box 1, Folder 1

Video 1. Morning symposium - Food, energy and population 1984 March 9

General note

Includes welcoming remarks by William A. Nierenberg, Keith A. Brueckner, and Edward Goldberg; "Two faces of development" by Harrison S. Brown (incomplete).
Box 1, Folder 2

Video 2. Morning symposium (continued) - Food, energy and population 1984 March 9

General note

Brown's talk, continued; "The world food situation from now until the year 2000," by Jean Mayer.
Box 1, Folder 3

Video 3. Morning symposium conclusion; Afternoon symposium - The Earth, climate, and carbon dioxide 1984 March 9

General note

Mayer's talk, continued; Henry William Menard remarks; introduction by Walter Munk; "Recollections of some contributors to the early development of plate tectonics," by J. Tuzo Wilson.
Box 1, Folder 4

Video 4. Afternoon symposium (continued) - The Earth, climate, and carbon dioxide 1984 March 9

General note

Introduction by Harmon Craig; "Speculations on the geologic history of atmospheric carbon dioxide and oxygen," by Robert M. Garrel.
Box 1, Folder 5

Video 5. Afternoon symposium (continued) - The Earth, climate, and carbon dioxide 1984 March 9

General note

Introduction by Charles David Keeling; "The carbon dioxide problem," by William A. Nierenberg (incomplete).
Box 1, Folder 6

Video 6. Morning symposium - Science and society 1984 March 10

General note

Nierenberg's talk, continued; "Universities and scientific education," by Glenn T. Seaborg (incomplete).
Box 1, Folder 7

Video 7. Morning symposium (continued) - Science and society 1984 March 10

General note

Seaborg's talk, continued; "Education for the professional scientist," by Rollin Eckis.
Box 1, Folder 8

Video 8. Morning symposium conclusion - Science and society 1984 March 10

General note

"The Revelle Impact," by Emilio Q. Daddario; closing remarks by Roger Revelle.
 

AUDIOCASSETTE

Box 1, Folder 9

Tape 1. Morning symposium - Food, energy and population 1984 March 9

General note

Includes welcoming remarks by William A. Nierenberg, Keith A. Brueckner, and Edward Goldberg; "Two faces of development" by Harrison S. Brown.
Box 1, Folder 10

Tape 2. Morning symposium (continued) - Food, energy and population; luncheon 1984 March 9

General note

"The world food situation from now until the year 2000," by Jean Mayer; luncheon.
Box 1, Folder 11

Tape 3. Luncheon presentation by Robert Stevenson of the Office of Naval Research; Afternoon symposium - The Earth, climate, and carbon dioxide 1984 March 9

General note

"Recollections of some contributors to the early development of plate tectonics," by J. Tuzo Wilson.
Box 1, Folder 12

Tape 4. Afternoon symposium (continued) - The Earth, climate, and carbon dioxide 1984 March 9

General note

"Speculations on the geologic history of atmospheric carbon dioxide and oxygen," by Robert M. Garrel; "The carbon dioxide problem," by William A. Nierenberg (incomplete).
Box 1, Folder 13

Tape 5. Afternoon symposium (continued) - The Earth, climate, and carbon dioxide 1984 March 9

General note

Nierenberg's talk, continued.
Box 1, Folder 14

Tape 6. Morning symposium - Science and society 1984 March 10

General note

"Universities and scientific education," by Glen T. Seaborg, and "Education for the professional scientist," by Rollin Eckis.
Box 1, Folder 15

Tape 7. Morning symposium (continued) and closing remarks - Science and society 1984 March 10

General note

Eckis's talk, continued; "The Revelle Impact," by Emilio Q. Daddario.