209 research outputs found
Sort by
Interview with David M. Grether
Full text linkDavid Grether (1938–2021), professor of economics, emeritus, discusses his life and career and shares his thoughts and observations about the role and evolution of liberal arts studies at Caltech from his unique vantage point as two-time chair of Caltech’s Division of Humanities and Social Sciences (1982–1992, 2006–2007). The complex collegial and institutional relationship between Caltech’s lone liberal arts division and its five science/engineering divisions on the one hand, and between the humanists and social scientists grouped together within HSS, on the other, is a recurring theme of this retrospective.
Grether recalls his upbringing in Berkeley, California, and the roots of his early interest in social and economic problems, leading to undergraduate and graduate study in economics at UC Berkeley and Stanford respectively, and to several years as assistant professor of economics at Yale. Joining Caltech’s economics faculty in 1971, he gradually shifted much of his research focus from econometrics to behavioral economics and was instrumental in establishing the new field of experimental economics at Caltech in the 1970s. He talks about his impressions of the campus and numerous colleagues during these early years, and about the atmosphere in HSS during a time of significant transition, marked by the introduction of a PhD program in social science, differences over the future direction of the division, and the contrasting personal styles and academic agendas of consecutive HSS division chairs H. Smith, R. Huttenback, and R. Noll, whom he succeeded as chair in 1982. Grether’s detailed account of his experiences as HSS chair includes his interactions with a succession of Caltech provosts (J. Roberts, R. Vogt, B. Kamb, and P. Jennings), as well as faculty recruitment, fundraising, the expansion or introduction of research programs in the history of science, Asian studies, and neuroeconomics, the controversy surrounding the 1985 closure of Caltech’s Baxter Art Gallery, and a recap of related academic, administrative, and personnel issues. The oral history concludes with an overview of Grether’s later research work, his involvement in campus faculty committees, most notably his tenure as chair of the undergraduate admissions committee, and general reflections on his Caltech career
Interview with Lucile M. (Lucy) Jones
No full textThis ten-session oral history with seismologist Dr. Lucile (Lucy) Jones—visiting research associate at Caltech, former head of the Pasadena office of the United States Geological Survey (USGS), and founder of the Lucy Jones Center for Science and Society—offers an in-depth look at how a life in science became a mission to help build a more informed and resilient society. Widely recognized for her pioneering work in seismic risk analysis and public safety and for her ability to communicate fluently about both to diverse audiences, Jones has long been known to the public as “the earthquake lady,” a distinction that, as she explains, she often views with distinctly mixed feelings.
Sessions 1–3 explore Jones’ Southern California upbringing, including her early love of mathematics, science, and classical music, and her unorthodox academic path—majoring in Chinese language and literature at Brown University and then earning a PhD in geophysics at MIT under the guidance of future Crafoord laureate P. Molnar. With this background she became one of the first Western researchers to conduct earthquake studies in China after the normalization of U.S.-China relations in the late 1970s. She recalls her work with Chinese seismologists during a time of guarded liberalization, the impact of catastrophic quakes on Chinese society, the pitfalls of earthquake forecasting efforts, and her newfound awareness, arising out of these experiences, that “earthquake prediction was not just a scientific problem, but a human and a social one.”
Sessions 4–6 delve into her research on earthquake probabilities, particularly her use of statistical modeling to analyze foreshocks and aftershocks during California’s 1987–1999 earthquake sequence. She discusses her collaborations with colleagues at the USGS and Caltech seismological laboratory, major advances and debates in seismology during this era, and her own growing prominence as both earthquake “explainer” and seismic safety advocate, and the challenges and opportunities it created, both personally and professionally. She also recounts joint research with her husband and fellow seismologist, Egill Hauksson, on seismic activity along the southern San Andreas and adjacent faults. These experiences culminated in her authorship of “Putting Down Roots in Earthquake Country,” a guide to seismic awareness in California.
Sessions 7–9 cover Jones’ tenure as scientist-in-charge of the Pasadena USGS and her move into public policy, working with government agencies at all levels to develop and promote hazard mitigation strategies. A highlight is her conception of the ShakeOut earthquake drill, now a global event. She talks in detail about her year as seismic safety advisor to the mayor of Los Angeles, which led to the Resilience by Design report—a comprehensive blueprint for bolstering the city’s ability to withstand a catastrophic quake—and about her decision to establish the Lucy Jones Center, reflecting her commitment to “science activation,” with the climate crisis as a key focus. A recurring theme is the potential tension between scientific integrity and public advocacy, and the challenges of working within and across both worlds.
In Session 10, Jones discusses her experience researching and writing her book The Big Ones, a popular science treatment of how societies throughout history have responded to natural disasters, the lessons they offer for meeting similar challenges today—and the lessons she herself learned through her explorations of how humanity has dealt, or failed to deal, with such events over two millennia
Interview with Norman H. Brooks
Full text linkBrooks, the James Irvine Professor of Environmental and Civil Engineering, Emeritus, recalls his youth in Massachusetts, his studies at Harvard, courtship of his wife, Frederika, and their work in a Boston settlement house. In 1950 he began graduate work at Caltech. A 1952 summer job with the LA County Sanitation Districts led him to pursue PhD studies in hydrology and sedimentation with Caltech civil engineer Vito Vanoni and to an assistant professorship
on the Caltech faculty, where he remained for the entirety of his career. He discusses his involvement, with J. McKee and P. Duwez, in the founding of the Keck Laboratory of Hydraulics and Water Resources and his design of an innovative recirculating flume to carry out pioneering hydraulic studies. He played a key role in the establishment of Caltech’s Environmental Engineering Science [EES] option, which incorporated his vision of integrating scientific studies more fully into environmental engineering teaching and research. He recalls the participation of J.J. Morgan, F, Raichlen, R. Koh, W, North, and John Seinfeld in both EES and the Environmental Quality Lab (EQL), which he directed from 1974 to 1993. Throughout these interviews, Brooks emphasizes the importance of firsthand observation of hydraulic issues, including sediment and pollutant dispersal and ocean outfalls; of taking a scientific approach to civil engineering; of understanding of ocean currents in using ocean as a resource for waste disposal. He also recalls his numerous consulting jobs on ocean outfalls in both the United States and abroad, including work in Boston; Athens, Greece; Sydney, Australia; Zurich; Taipei; Bangkok; and on California’s San Onofre nuclear plant
Interview with Wolfgang Knauss
Full text linkAn oral history in four sessions (September 2019–January 2020) with Wolfgang Knauss, von Kármán Professor of Aeronautics and Applied Mechanics, Emeritus. Born in Germany in 1933, he speaks about his early life and experiences under the Nazi regime, his teenage years in Siegen and Heidelberg during the Allied occupation, and his move to Pasadena, California, in 1954 under the sponsorship of a local minister and his family. He enrolled in Caltech as an undergraduate in 1957, commencing a more than half-century affiliation with the Institute and GALCIT (today the Graduate Aerospace Laboratories of Caltech). He recalls the roots of his interest in aeronautics, his PhD solid mechanics studies with his advisor, M. Williams, and the GALCIT environment in the late 1950s and 1960s at the dawn of the Space Age, including the impact of Sputnik and classes with NASA astronauts. He discusses his experimental and theoretical work on materials deformation, dynamic fracture, and crack propagation, including his solid-propellant fuels research for NASA and the US Army, wide-ranging programs with the US Navy, and his pioneering micromechanics investigations and work on the time-dependent fracture of polymers in the 1990s.
He offers his perspective on GALCIT’s academic culture, its solid mechanics and fluid mechanics programs, and its evolving administrative directions over the course of five decades, as well as its impact and reputation both within and beyond Caltech. He describes his work with Caltech’s undergraduate admissions committee and his scientific collaborations with numerous graduate students and postdocs and shares his recollections of GALCIT and other Caltech colleagues, including C. Babcock, D. Coles, R.P. Feynman, Y.C. Fung, G. Neugebauer, G. Housner, D. Hudson, H. Liepmann, A. Klein, G. Ravichandran, A. Rosakis, A. Roshko, and E. Sechler.
Six appendices contributed by Dr. Knauss, offering further insight into his life and career, also form part of this oral history and are cross-referenced in the main text
Interview with Helen Keith Smythe
Full text linkAn interview in August and October 1978 with Helen Keith Smythe, wife of William R. Smythe, professor of physics 1937-1964
Interview with Eleanor Bedell Burt
Full text linkAn interview on August 11, 1978 with Eleanor Bedell Burt, wife of Robert C. Burt, research and teaching fellow, 1921-1927, and alumnus, receiving his PhD from Caltech in 1926
Interview with Elizabeth Allen Swift
Full text linkAn interview in January and February 1978 with Elizabeth Allen Swift, wife of Ernest H. Swift, instructor of analytical chemistry, 1920-1926, receiving his PhD from Caltech in 1924; professor of analytical chemistry, 1928-1967 and chair of the Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Division, 1958-1963
Interview with J. Morgan Kousser
Full text linkInterview in eleven sessions (April 2016¬–October 2020) with J. Morgan Kousser, professor of history and social science, emeritus, and a pioneer in the field of historical expert witness testimony in voting rights and civil rights legislation. Kousser describes his upbringing and education in Nashville, Tennessee, including his youthful exposure to segregation, local politics, and the civil rights movement, as well as his undergraduate and graduate studies at Princeton (BA 1965) and Yale (PhD 1968), and his work with PhD advisor C.V. Woodward. He recalls his growing interest in quantitative history, and his involvement in antiwar and civil rights activism. He offers his thoughts on the character and evolution of the Caltech humanities and social sciences (HSS) division, particularly its social science program, and on numerous Caltech faculty, staff, and administrators, from his arrival on campus in 1969 to the present day. He recalls his participation on a range of Caltech administrative committees, his experiences teaching Southern politics, the Civil War and Reconstruction, and the history of the U.S. Supreme Court to Caltech students, and his recollections of sabbaticals at Harvard, Oxford, and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
Kousser’s five decades of research, writing, and expert witness testimony on racial injustice and discrimination, as well as voter disfranchisement and voter suppression in the American South, from the Jim Crow era to the present day, form the backbone of this narrative. He discusses a wide range of historical and courtroom work, including cases in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas; his testimony before state and federal legislatures; and his longtime involvement in landmark redistricting efforts and voting rights initiatives throughout California
Interview with Adeline Miller Adams
Full text linkAn interview in April 1978 with Adeline Miller Adams, second wife of Walter H. Adams, astronomer and Director of Mount Wilson Observatory, 1923-1945
Interview with Arden Albee
Full text linkAn interview series in three sessions, in August–September 2017, with Arden Albee, professor of geology and planetary science, emeritus, and a key figure in lunar and Martian exploration throughout the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s. Raised in Michigan, where his early interest in rocks and natural history was nurtured by road trips through the American west, he earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees in geology at Harvard and worked for the US Geological Survey before joining the Caltech faculty in 1959.
At Caltech he pioneered the use of the electron microprobe in petrological studies with colleagues A. Chodos and E. A. Bence, pursued fieldwork in numerous locales, including Greenland, where he and Caltech colleague G. Wasserburg took part in the landmark Oldstone Project to collect and analyze the world’s most ancient rocks, and collaborated in characterizing and dating the moon rocks returned by the Apollo missions.
From 1978 to 1984, he was JPL chief scientist during a transformative period in the lab’s history under successive directors B. Murray and L. Allen. He chaired numerous NASA planetary exploration committees and served as project scientist for the Mars Observer mission and as mission scientist for Mars Global Surveyor. His lengthy tenure, not without controversy, as Caltech’s dean of graduate studies from 1984 to 2000 and his two decades chairing the house committee of the Caltech faculty club, the Athenaeum, are also recounted in this oral history