Materials are arranged in the order created during the interview process with the first file containing notes created before, during, and after the interview.
Accession No. PA.2001.0006: Carl Benson, 2001 June
[identification of item], Carl Benson Oral History, SPEC.PA.56.0087, Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center Archival Program, Ohio State University
Contains audiocassettes.
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Processed by: Audrey Wimbiscus, 2020 October; finding aid written by: Audrey Wimbiscus, 2020 December
As of 2020, Dr. Carl S. Benson is a professor emeritus of geology and geophysics at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) Geophysical Institute. After serving in the United States Navy as an Aviation Machinist's Mate from 1944 to 1946, Benson enrolled at the University of Minnesota where he majored in geology and minored in mathematics and physics. Upon graduation from the University of Minnesota in 1950, he traveled to Northern Alaska with the United States Geological Survey, where he worked for a field season before returning to the University of Minnesota for his master’s degree. From 1950-1951 while working on his degree, Benson took an assistantship with the Snow, Ice, and Permafrost Research Establishment (SIPRE), which led to a job there that he worked until 1956. He worked in the area of micrometeorology, helped with the scientific calculations necessary for building Thule Air Force Base on an ice sheet in Greenland, and worked with the U.S. Corps of Engineers in Northern Canada. Benson used data taken during this time to complete his dissertation in geophysics at the California Institute of Technology in 1960.
The year he got his doctorate, Benson moved to Alaska with his wife to take a post as an assistant professor in geophysics at the UAF, though his main function within the university was doing research in the Geophysical Institute. Research topics included ice fog, glaciers, stream flow, and snow conditions. Other than research trips to places such as Antarctica, Greenland, and Canada, he spent his entire career at UAF until his retirement from teaching in 1987. As a professor emeritus he remains active as a researcher and mentor to others in his field. Benson Ridge in Antarctica is named for him for work he did on Roosevelt Island, Antarctica from 1961-1962.
The Carl Benson Oral History, dated 2001, contains audio recordings, notes, and transcripts of the interview between Dr. Benson and Karen Brewster of the American Polar Society conducted on June 22, 2001. 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 Benson's career specializing in polar and glacial research, his scientific trips to polar regions, memories of working at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute, and transportation vehicles such as Weasels and Sno-Cats used in the polar regions.
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