High points of a half-century of science and engineering

Scripps: High points of a half-century of science and engineering

Charles David Keeling
Is carbon dioxide fully absorbed by the world’s oceans and vegetated areas, or does some of it rise into the atmosphere? Flip the calendar back to the early 1950s and you’d get little more than speculation from scientists.

The puzzle was solved, to a large degree, by Charles David Keeling, a climate researcher at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla. Keeling revolutionized climate-change research by measuring the movement of CO2 into the atmosphere, a discovery that eventually would expose carbon dioxide’s role as a significant greenhouse gas.

Keeling took his first measurements in the late 1950s. But he and his colleagues continued taking the reading for decades, helping to pinpoint the impact of burning of fossil fuels and industrialization.

San Diego Super-computer Center
Sunday, Nov. 14, is the 25th anniversary of a center on the UCSD campus that’s known as much for helping to solve problems as it is for extraordinary computing power.

The center has helped hasten and improve the design of pharmaceutical drugs, led to better ways to grow food and a more effective means to battle the virus that causes AIDS.

The facility also has helped make it easier to predict solar disturbances that can damage satellites.

Scientists have used the center’s computers to improve weather forecast models and develop ways to track wildfires. Currently, the center is working on ways to make the Internet and various mobile platforms operate faster.

Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Scripps evolved from a small, independent laboratory founded in 1903 into the nation’s pre-eminent oceanographic institution. During the past 50 years, Scripps has helped explain the movement of Earth’s tectonic plates, the nature of waves, and the mechanics of weather and climate change.

The institution, now part of the university, has been home to heavyweight scientists such as Walter Munk, who is widely called the “greatest living oceanographer” for his studies of ocean circulation, waves and tides. Roger Revelle also led Scripps to greatness, mostly through pioneering work on climate change.

And Scripps scientists have played a pivotal role in studying the California Current, which affects everything from fish stocks to weather conditions along the West Coast.

Jacobs School of Engineering
Southern California shook hard Jan. 17, 1994. A magnitude 6.7 earthquake erupted in Northridge, killing more than 70 people and causing $20 billion damage.

Portions of some freeways were heavily damaged, but many key bridge supports withstood the shaking, having been reinforced with a jacket system developed by UCSD engineers. The program, now known as the Jacobs School of Engineering, also helped enhance the design of the new San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and created the nation’s first large outdoor shake table to test structures for clients like Caltrans.

The school has fashioned a simulator that helped reveal how bomb blasts damage buildings. The research is being used to reinforce American embassies.

The engineering school also continues to be well-known in aerospace and defense research. Early on, it helped design portions of missiles and satellites.

Margaret Langdon
Margaret Langdon wasn’t an “ivory tower” type of scholar. For years, the linguist moved among American Indian tribal leaders in the Southwestern United States, helping to preserve their languages.

Some of her best and most enduring contributions involved the Diegueño and Kumeyaay people on reservations in San Diego County. Langdon, a native of Belgium, created the first dictionary of Diegueño with scholars Christina Hutcheson and Ted Couro. The project enabled the tribe to expand beyond its oral history.

Langdon assisted many other Southern California tribes over the years, notably the Luiseño.

Her influence has extended across generations in another way: She served as an adviser on 17 graduate dissertations in linguistics. Her students included people who went on to become celebrated scholars.