Oral history interview with Walter Orr Roberts, 1983, July 26.

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Oral history interview with Walter Orr Roberts, 1983, July 26.

This interview reviews in detail Roberts' childhood experiences before addressing his work on the solar corona; solar spicules and prominences; the orgins of geomagnetic disturbances; and the influence of variable solar activity on the earth's ionosphere and weather. Roberts also discusses his graduate education under Donald Menzel at Harvard, his varied career as a researcher and administrator, and his participation in the establishment of the Climax, Colorado solar coronagraph station of Harvard College. Other topics and affliliations discussed include: his work as Director of the High Altitude Observatory (1946-1961); his tenure as Director of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (1960-1968); communist investigations among scientists; the observatory at Sacramento Peak; rocketry research; and his relationship with Harlow Shapley.

Transcript: 125 p.

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SNAC Resource ID: 6862537

Related Entities

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Harvard University

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w64n9x97 (person)

Harvard College was founded by a vote of the Great and General Court of Massachusetts on October 28, 1636 that allocated “400£ towards a schoale or colledge.” Subsequent legislative acts established the Board of Overseers, but it was the Charter of 1650 that created the Harvard Corporation as the College's primary governing board and defined its composition and authority. The College Charter became a contentious target for College officials, the Massachusetts Governor and General C...

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DeVorkin, David H., 1944-....

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Menzel, Donald H. (Donald Howard,), 1901-1976.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6jq12dm (person)

Menzel died in 1976. From the description of Autobiography, 1974. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 80630339 Donald Howard Menzel was an astrophysicist. From the description of Papers concerning UFOs, 1952-1976. (American Philosophical Society Library). WorldCat record id: 122523365 From the description of Autobiography, September 1974. (American Philosophical Society Library). WorldCat record id: 122624215 From the guide to the Papers concerning U...

Shapley, Harlow, 1885-1972

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6pn96xk (person)

Astronomer (galaxies, photometry, spectroscopy) and administrator. Astronomer, Mount Wilson Observatory, 1914-1921; director, Harvard Observatory, 1921-1952; on the astronomy faculty at Harvard from 1952. From the description of Papers [microform], 1910-1923. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 80523781 Harlow Shapley (1885-1972) was an astronomer. Shapley served as director of the Harvard College Observatory and was a professor at Harvard University, eventually he became the Pai...

National Center for Atmospheric Research (U.S.)

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Sacramento Peak Observatory

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University of Colorado Chorus

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Fred Hellems, who compiled the two-page list of admission and graduation requirements of U.S. universities, was a Canadian who came to the University of Colorado as a Latin professor in 1898. He served as Dean of Arts and Sciences from 1899 until his death in 1929, and also was acting President in 1927-1928. [Source: A Guide to Manuscript Collections, Western Historical Collections, University of Colorado, Boulder, 2nd ed., c1982, p. 43.]. From the description of Records and correspo...