| Description | General, scientific correspondence of Dan McKenzie, Senior Assistant in Research (SAR), University of Cambridge, England, January-May, July & December 1970.
Correspondents and subjects include:
JANUARY 1970
Typescript memorandum 'Note to the Grants Committee on Computing Costs', by David 'Dai' Davies and McKenzie sent to the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) grants committee, complaining that in turning down the funding for computing costs for their project is unwise as many of the computers available in British universities do not use international standards such as FORTRAN and ALGOL and it would cost far more to reprogram them to make them compatible, 6 January 1970; typescript, circular letter providing updates on the current status of the proposed European Geophysical Society, 7 January 1970; telegram from John Sclater, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, USA, wanting to know the status of their joint paper on the Indian Ocean as he has just heard that James R Heirtzler and 'Olwani' [probably Manik Talwani] are preparing their own, 15 January 1970; Laurie John, Producer, Science Unit (Radio) BBC, London, England, concerning McKenzie's forthcoming talk [on continental drift in the series 'Primitive Earth'], 21 January 1970; letter to David 'Dai' Davies, Editor, 'Geophysical Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society' and member of the Department of Geodesy & Geophysics, University of Cambridge, England, from Jean Francheteau, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, on behalf of John Sclater, submitting a paper for publication, and describing likely problems on a forthcoming research cruise off the Central American coast due to the 200 mile restriction by Ecuador, wishes to know if anyone from Cambridge would like to join a JOIDES expedition to the Indian Ocean between October 1970-July 1971, 22 January 1970, with manuscript comments by Davies and McKenzie; Jean Coulomb, President of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG), inviting McKenzie to stand for the permanent commission on geodynamics, 20 January 1970, with brief copy reply from McKenzie agreeing, 27 January 1970; BBC offer of engagement for McKenzie to participate in an episode of 'Horizon' on Continental Drift, 28 January 1970;
FEBRUARY 1970
Photostat, 'Preliminary List of Sites Under Consideration for Deep-drilling Programme in the Mediteranean [sic] Sea', February 1970; annotated and corrected copy of the abstract to the paper "The development of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden in relation to plate tectonics" given by Dan McKenzie at the discussion meeting 'The Structure and Evolution of the Red Sea and the Nature of the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and Ethiopian Rift Junction', held at the Royal Society, London, March 1969, which was to be included in the meeting's published proceedings, [n.d.]; Max Wyss, California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Pasadena, California, USA, on McKenzie's question about estimates for the 'reliability of Gutenberg energy-magnitude relation', 9 Feb [1970]; Don L Anderson, Caltech, wanting to know when McKenzie is returning to the US, and if he and David 'Dai' Davies ever completed their paper on LONG SHOT, 10 February 1970, with copy reply from McKenzie stating that his SAR position at Cambridge means that he must remain there during term time, and can only travel abroad between June and September, when he plans to return to Scripps as he has become more interested in marine geology, 19 February 1970; BBC contract for the radio talk 'Primitive Earth: Drifting Continents', given by McKenzie, 11 February 1970, and transmitted on 4 March 1970; Leon Knopoff, Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA, enquiring about McKenzie's travel plans for the forthcoming Francis Birch Symposium ['The Nature of the Solid Earth'], 11 February 1970, with copy reply from McKenzie stating that he is penniless as no one in England has heard of him so he gets his grant applications cut, and will need travel expenses to attend, 17 February 1970; Lindsay Ward, Scientific and Technical Section, Nature-MacMillan International Textbook Project, inviting McKenzie to write a postgraduate textbook on seismology, 13 February 1970, with copy reply from McKenzie declining, 19 February 1970; Walter Pitman III, Lamont Geological Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, New York, USA, discussing the magnetic stripe pattern figures in a paper by Jim Heirtzler, 16 February 1970; Peter 'Pete' Molnar, University of Nairobi, Kenya, suggesting changes to a joint paper [McKenzie, D, D Davies & P Molnar, "Plate tectonics of the Red Sea and East Africa", 'Nature', vol 226 (1970), pp243-248], 22 February 1970; N A Taylor, BBC Open University, concerning television and radio programmes for a course unit on the 'Internal Structure and Composition of the Earth' with Professor Ian Gass, and wondering if McKenzie would like to take part, with a draft outline of the format, 23 February 1970;
MARCH 1970
Letters concerning arrangements for the Francis Birch Symposium to be held at Harvard University in April, including preliminary announcement, March 1970; copy of a memorandum from John Sclater, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, recommending McKenzie be employed by the institution between July-September that year, 3 March 1970; Edward 'Ted' Irving, Geomagnetic Laboratory, Observatories Branch, Energy Mines and Resources, Ottawa, Canada, has just been made chairman of the 'Long Range Project in the Earth Sciences' committee, which has taken over from the Upper Mantle Committee, and is soliciting opinions about what is needed in terms of geological and geophysical study of the viscosity of the mantle and the post-glacial uplift in Canada, Edward 'Teddy' Bullard has just given the same lecture to his department that he gave two years earlier, 30 January [1970], with detailed, copy reply from McKenzie, 4 March 1970; outside cover of an issue of 'Dateline in Science', which contains the spoof article "Indexes of Key Words Spur Lazy Nonreaders Into Reprint-Collection", citing the published letter by McKenzie, David 'Dai' Davies and John Stewart Turner ["Evolution - Development - Anatomical and Cerebral Features and the Pathological Consequence", 'Nature', vol 225 (1970), p636] that the use of computer key words for indexing academic papers mean that they receive multiple, automated requests for reprints based on the title alone, 6 March 1970; BBC contract for interview by McKenzie, for the Radio 4 programme 'New Worlds', recorded 25 February 1970, 12 March 1970; Anthony Mayer, NERC, London, England, inviting McKenzie to serve on a working group on Geotectonics and Crustal Studies, charged with helping to evolve a broad strategy for earth sciences, 16 March 1970; John Tuzo Wilson, Principal, Erindale College, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, concerning arrangements for a forthcoming symposium in Tokyo ['The Ocean World' symposium, held in Tokyo, Japan, 13-25 September 1970], 20 March 1970;
APRIL 1970
BBC contract for additional interview by McKenzie for the Radio 4 programme 'New Worlds', recorded 25 February 1970, 2 April 1970; Michael L Goldberg, 'Yale Scientific Magazine', New Haven, Connecticut, USA, impressed by McKenzie's paper in 'Endeavour' ["Plate tectonics and continental drift", 'Endeavour' vol 29 (1970), pp39-44] and wishes McKenzie to write an article for his magazine, 12 April 1970; copy letters from McKenzie to Anthony Mayer, NERC, London, accepting the invitation to serve on the working group on Geotectonics and Crustal Studies, but cannot attend the meeting, 18 March 1970 and 13 April 1970; application for a NERC grant on 'Seismology, Plate Tectonics and convection in the Mantle', 13 April 1970; copy letter from McKenzie to John Tuzo Wilson, Principal, Erindale College, University of Toronto, enclosing a copy of the abstract of his proposed paper "Mantle Convection and Plate Tectonics" [included] for the September symposium in Tokyo, 13 April 1970; A Cox, Programme Assistant Transcription Service, BBC, wants to broadcast McKenzie's talk 'Primitive Earth: Drifting Continents' overseas but it is too long, encloses typescript transcript with suggested cuts for McKenzie to approve [included], 20 April 1970; Peter 'Pete' Molnar, Lamont Geological Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, New York, USA, travel plans, becoming interested in migrating ridges, 20 April 1970;
MAY 1970
Various invitations for McKenzie to attend symposia, take part in the JOIDES expedition or write articles, many of which he turns down as he is too busy, May 1970; copy letter from McKenzie to Percy Edward 'Peter' Kent, B P Petroleum Development Ltd, Britannic House, London, England, thanking Kent for sending him his paper on the Mediterranean and suggests that present plate boundaries and motion directions have only been in place for around 5Ma years at most, 5 May 1970; Raphael 'Raphy' Freund, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, has just read McKenzie and Jason Morgan's paper ["The evolution of triple junctions", 'Nature', vol 224 (1969), pp125-133], and wishes to correct the paper's interpretation of the strike slip faults in New Zealand as he has been studying them first hand, 23 April 1970, with copy reply from McKenzie agreeing that he may be incorrect and eager discuss the subject further, but is worried about Freund's opinion of his latest paper, 5 May 1970; John D Isaacs, Acting Director, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, offering McKenzie the temporary post of Assistant Research Geophysicist II for the summer, 16 April 1970, with brief copy reply from McKenzie refusing the offer as he is going to be busy, 5 May 1970; J L Robinson, Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics, University of Rhode Island, USA, is interested in studying convection in the mantle and wonders what objection McKenzie has to the model described by Turcotte and Oxburg, 1 May 1970, with short copy reply from McKenzie, 11 May 1970; Peter 'Pete' Molnar, [no address], informing McKenzie that he has just received a letter from Brian Baker concerning Paul Mohr's unhappiness with their joint paper ["Plate tectonics of the Red Sea and East Africa", (1970), ibid], [May 1970]; David 'Dai' Davies, Seismic Discrimination Group, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Lincoln Laboratory, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, enclosing an extract of a paper' from Paul Mohr and Brian Baker, which criticises McKenzie's, et al work on the fit of the Red Sea, with typescript riposte from McKenzie, Davies and Peter 'Pete' Molnar, [May 1970], also photocopy of joint letter from McKenzie, Davies and John Stewart Turner to John Maddox, Editor of 'Nature', Washington DC, USA, disappointed that their spoof letter ["Evolution - Development - Anatomical and Cerebral Features and the Pathological Consequence", ibid] has not borne better fruit, primarily because of the publicity it received in 'Dateline in Science' [see March 1970], but are still hopeful that some of the terms will be picked up by medics, 18 May 1970; Peter 'Pete' Molnar, Lamont Geological Observatory of Columbia University, suggesting edits to the riposte to Mohr's and Baker's paper, 25 May 1970;
JULY & DECEMBER 1970
Dr A M Patwardhan, C A S in Geology, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India, researching the Himalayas phosphorites and is interested in McKenzie's work on the palaeogeography of the area, 14 July 1970; John Sclater, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, work on their joint paper, results of the JOIDES expedition, and plans for the next cruise expedition, 5 December [1970]. |