Schaefer, Vincent J.

This collection documents the life and work of Vincent J. Schaefer of Schenectady, New York. From 1922-1926, he completed a four-year apprenticeship as a machinist and was assigned to the machine shop at the General Electric Research Laboratory. In 1929, Schaefer became a modelmaker at GE where he started building equipment for Irving Langmuir who had won the Nobel Prize for his work in surface chemistry. In 1932, Langmuir made Schaefer his assistant. Schaefer studied and published articles on surface chemistry techniques, electron microscopy, polarization, ice studies, studies of protein films, television tube brightness, and submicroscopic particulates. In 1938, he was promoted to research associate and continued working with Langmuir on military projects such as gas mask filtration of smokes, submarine detection with binaural sound, and the productions of artificial fogs and smoke screens. In 1946, Schaefer developed a method to seed supercooled clouds with dry ice. In 1954, Schaefer left GE to become Director of Research at the Munitalp Foundation where he worked with the U.S. Forest Service in the Rocky Mountains on Project Skyfire. In 1958, Schaefer worked with the American Meteorological Society and the National Science Foundation on an education film project and to develop the Natural Sciences Institute Summer Programs. From 1959-1961, Schaefer was Director of the Atmospheric Science Center at the Loomis School in Connecticut. In 1960, Schaefer helped found the Atmospheric Sciences Research Center at the State University of New York at Albany where he served as Director of Research until 1966 when he became its Director. He attracted highly-qualified scientists from all over the world to Albany. During the 1970s, his own research interests focused on environmental issues.

From the description of Vincent J. Schaefer papers, 1927-1993. (University at Albany). WorldCat record id: 122528654