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Gunderson (E. K.) Papers
MSS 0786
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Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla 92093-0175
Title: E. K. Gunderson Papers
Creator:
Gunderson, E. K. Eric (Ellsworth K. Eric), 1923-
Identifier/Call Number: MSS 0786
Physical Description:
4.8 Linear feet
(12 archives boxes and 1 oversize folder)
Date (inclusive): 1943 to 2005 (bulk 1962-2003)
Abstract: Papers of E. K. Gunderson, psychologist, former director of the United States Navy's Naval Heath Research Center in San Diego,
CA, and an important contributor to the field of Antarctic psychology.
Languages:
English
.
Scope and Content of Collection
Papers of E. K. Gunderson, psychologist, former director of the United States Navy's Naval Heath Research Center in San Diego,
CA, and an important contributor to the field of Antarctic psychology. The organization and numbering reflects the original
order of his files, with Gunderson's tabs indicating his preferred subdivisions of files.
Arranged in three series: A) BIOGRAPHICAL, B) WRITINGS, and C) RESEARCH.
Ellsworth Kermit Eric Gunderson was born on September 18, 1923 in Max Bass, North Dakota to Halver and Elvina Gunderson. After
military service in the medical corps of the 11th Armored Division during World War II, Gunderson attended UC Los Angeles
for both his undergraduate and graduate career, majoring in psychology. At UCLA he received a Bachelor of Arts in 1948, a
Master's degree in 1951, and earned his PhD in 1953.
Gunderson spend the majority of his professional career at the Naval Health Research Center (NHRC) in Point Loma, San Diego
from its inception in the early 1960s when it was known as the Navy's Medical Neuropsychiatric Research Unit, up to the late
1980s when he served as Scientific Director. During the span of over 30 years, Gunderson's major research contributions were
in the field of Antarctic psychology, studying human adaptation in isolation and confinement. His research was later applied
to NASA astronauts and long-term space missions. With data collected during polar, naval and space expeditions, Gunderson
and his colleagues published over two hundred reports and articles. Gunderson also edited the book, Human Adaptability to
Antarctic Conditions published in 1974, and co-authored Life Stress and Illness, and he was a contributor to From Antarctica
to Outer Space: Life in Isolation and Confinement among other published works on topics relating to clinical psychology, personality
theory, physiological psychology, adaptability, and statistics. Gunderson taught at UC San Diego in the Department of Psychiatry
in the School of Medicine, and was appointed Adjunct Professor in 1971 and Adjunct Clinical Professor in 1975.
Throughout Gunderson's long and distinguished career, he received many acknowledgments for his research contributions to the
field of psychology. He was elected Fellow of the American Psychological Association in 1971, appointed to the Panel on Biological
and Medical Sciences, Committee on Polar Research with the National Academy of Sciences in 1973, was awarded the Distinguished
Civilian Service Award from the Secretary of the Navy in March 1977 and again in June 1989, and was awarded the Society of
Navy General Preventive Medicine Officers' Albert Leary Gihon Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995.
Gunderson died on November 10, 2015.
E. K. Gunderson Papers. MSS 786. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.
Acquired 2016
Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Extreme environments -- Psychological aspects
Gunderson, E. K. Eric (Ellsworth K. Eric), 1923- -- Archives