| Description | General correspondence of Dan McKenzie, Professor of Earth Sciences in the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, England, January-December 1988. The contents principally comprise various invitations and arrangements for McKenzie to attend symposia, serve on committees, give talks or write articles, requests for preprints, or permission to republish his papers, correspondence with publishers, or with fellow academics/scientists seeking McKenzie's opinion on their works, but also:
Copy letter from McKenzie to Janusz Eluszkiewicz, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, England, was given a copy of Eluszkiewicz's outline study topic "Compaction in Icy Satellites" [included] and is happy to meet with him, 18 January 1988; Marcia McNutt and Chris Harrison, Co-chairs, GRM Science Steering Committee, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, attempting to enlist earth scientists to convince the European Space Agency to launch a collaborative geopotential mission with NASA as the planned US Geopotential Research Mission (GRM) has been shelved, 26 February 1988;
Copy letter from McKenzie to Tim Lester, BP Research Centre, Sunbury-on-Thames, England, describing Mike Cheadle's current work on fluid geometry and movement in rocks and wondering if it could be of interest to BP's interests in reservoir engineering, 19 January 1988, with reply from Dr I Price, unsure but willing to discuss possibilities, 2 March 1988, also typescript abtract of Cheadle and McKenzie's project "Theoretical Determination of Three-Dimensional Geometries of Texturally Equilibrated Partially Molten Rocks", [n.d.]; John Sclater, Institute for Geophysics, University of Texas at Austin (UTIG), USA, sends McKenzie a revised draft of his latest paper for comments and discusses the referees' feedback noting that there was interest in the attempt to quantify clay deformation, has decided against applying for the post at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, 4 March 1988; Nigel Weiss, Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge, England, arrangements for a series of informal graduate lectures on 'Topics in Nonlinear Dynamics', Weiss has had his request for a programmer turned down by the Nonlinear Panel and told not to apply again, but Mike McIntyre believes he can get six months of funding from the US Navy, 29 March 1988;
John Sclater, UTIG, as part of his seismo-tectonic study in the Gulf of California Sclater wishes to overlay Landsat photomosaics, would like information on McKenzie's computer programme, 11 April 1988; Caroline Adams, Kalgoorlie, Australia, describes her proposed model for the structural and metamorphic evolution of the Arunta block in Central Australia, [n.d.], with copy reply from McKenzie stating that he rarely works on continental deformation anymore, but will pass her letter to others that do, suggests that in sedimentary basins the issue is explaining the extension rather than the shortening, 19 April [1988]; Chris Chapman, Professor of Geophysics, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, England, informing McKenzie of his plans to submit his resignation and return to Canada, 16 May 1988;
John Sclater, UTIG, congratulates McKenzie on his election as foreign member of the National Academy of Sciences, seeking McKenzie's advice about the ongoing problems between the Institute of Geophysics and the academic Department at the University of Texas, following the appointment of Bill Fisher as Chairman of the Department despite strong opposition and losing out to Lamont for a multichannel research ship, 5 July 1988; Patrick J Hannan, Bethesda, Maryland, USA, is writing a book on the subject of serendipity and believes chance has played a role in at least 16 Nobel Prizes, wants to know if chance was a factor in McKenzie's scientific career, 13 May 1988, with copy reply from McKenzie unclear what Hannan means by 'chance' as he doubts that anyone's career has been totally preplanned, is far more interested in the opposite question stating that he knew as a teenager he wanted to be a scientist but had no idea which subject or how to set about it, 26 July 1988;
Carolynn Young, Magellan Project Officer, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA, badging arrangements for the Magellan space probe launch, 1 August 1988; Euan Nisbet, Department of Geological Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada, Mary Fowler's book, 24 August [1988];
John Sclater, UTIG, enclosing his report "The Relationship of the Institute for Geophysics with the Formal Educational Program at the University of Texas at Austin", made for the visiting committee meeting which McKenzie missed, seeking McKenzie's opinion, 18 October 1988; David Walker, on sabbatical, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, England, seeking McKenzie's advice on a circular letter he is planning to send requesting support for the RIDGE initiative, 19 October 1988; Karl Fuchs, Universitat Karlsruhe, Geophysikalisches Institut, Karlsruhe, F R Germany and President of the Inter-Union Commission of the Lithosphere (ICL), enclosing a draft ICL programme for the 1990s, 6 October 1988, with copy reply from McKenzie, although not enthusiastic about international programs he is keen on bringing geodynamics and igneous petrology together, giving an example of his current work, 24 October 1988;
Herbert Huppert, Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge, England, thanks McKenzie for his suggestions in how to improve Huppert's grant proposal, discusses McKenzie's unease about being head of the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Cambridge, 2 November 1988; letters between McKenzie and Ursula Maunsell, Secretary of the Rutherford Memorial Committee, Royal Society, London, England, concerning the possibility of publishing McKenzie's Rutherford lecture, 20 September-21 November 1988, with rough manuscript draft abstract of McKenzie's activities during the Rutherford Memorial Lectureship in New Zealand, [n.d.]; Homer Le Grand, History and Philosophy of Science, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia, arrangements to interview McKenzie about the history of plate tectonics, 24 November [1988]; John Sclater, UTIG, further breakdown in relations between the Institute and Department at the University of Texas, 30 November [1988], enclosing a copy of a letter from Carl Savit, Chairman, Visiting Committee to the Institute of Geophysics, University of Texas, to Dr William H Cunningham, President of the University of Texas, expressing concern over the poor relationship between the two and making recommendations, 17 November 1988, with a draft reply to Savit from Sclater disagreeing with some of the Visiting Committee's conclusions, 28 November 1988;
Drummond 'Drum' Matthews, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, England, to Dennis McMullin, Landmark Graphics Corporation, Houston, Texas, USA, explaining the BIRPS [British Institutions Reflection Profiling Syndicate] project, 8 December 1988; Professor A J Rutgers, Antwerp, Belgium, is not convinced by academic work suggesting that the oxygen-18 content of sea shells shows that there have been five ice ages in the last 500,000 years, and criticises the 'astronomical theory of Milankovitch' which has been refuted, 5 December 1988, with copy reply from McKenzie stating that he is convinced the Milankovitch theory is in fact correct, 19 December 1988. |