Materials are arranged in the order created during the interview process with the first file containing administrative materials created before, during, and after the interview.
Accession No. PA.2000.0049: Norbert Untersteiner, 2000 October
[identification of item], Norbert Untersteiner Oral History, SPEC.PA.56.0071, Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center Archival Program, Ohio State University
Contains audiocassettes.
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Processed by: Audrey Wimbiscus, 2020 March; Finding aid written by: Audrey Wimbiscus, Sam Devereaux, 2020 October
Norbert Untersteiner (1926-2012) was an Austrian geophysicist. He was drafted into the German Army in 1939, after Austria was annexed by Germany. After World War II ended, Untersteiner volunteered to survey glaciers through the Austrian Alpine Club. He received his Doctor of Philosophy in Geophysics and Astronomy from the University of Innsbruck in 1950. After Untersteiner graduated, he worked as a radio weather forecaster at the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics in Vienna until he became an Assistant Professor at the institute. During this time, Untersteiner measured the energy balance that caused a glacier to melt in Tyrol, Italy. From 1953-1954, he studied the ice grain structure of a glacier in Salzburg, then joined a research team to study heat balance, moisture balance, and radiation on mountains in East Pakistan. Untersteiner began working for the United States Northern Hemisphere Glaciology Program within the University of Washington in 1957. During that year, he went to Ice Station Alpha, a floating ice island in the Arctic Ocean. Untersteiner started teaching at the University of Washington in 1962, and helped to develop a geophysics program within the Department of Atmospheric Science. He wrote a report with Ken Hunkins in 1969, which outlined a plan for two-dimensional observations of ocean and atmospheric influences on sea ice in the Arctic. The report led to the Arctic Ice Dynamics Joint Experiment (AIDJEX), which took place from 1975-1976 in the Beaufort Sea. Untersteiner led the research trip as the Project Director. In 1983, he returned to the University of Washington to teach in the Oceanography Department. Untersteiner retired from the university in 1997, but continued teaching as a Professor Emeritus there until he passed away in 2012.
The Norbert Untersteiner Oral History, dated 2000-2001, contains audio recordings, administrative information, and transcripts of the interview between Dr. Untersteiner and Brian Shoemaker of the American Polar Society conducted on October 7, 2000. This interview was a part of a series of polar oral histories sponsored by the American Polar Society and Ohio State University's Byrd Polar Research Center Archival Program, with funding from the National Science Foundation. Major topics discussed include Untersteiner's life under the Nazi regime in Austria, his studying of mountain glaciers and ice floes, involvement in the creation of The Arctic Ice Dynamics Joint Experiment (AIDJEX), his time as the Director of the Office of Ocean Programs for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and memories of various teaching positions he held.
Also available online.