Oral history of British science
Swithinbank, Charles (Part 3 of 21). An Oral History of British Science.
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Type
sound
Duration
02:44:00
Shelf mark
C1379/03
Subjects
Glaciology
Recording date
2009-12-21
Recording locations
Interviewee's home, Cambridge
Interviewees
Swithinbank, Charles, 1926- 2014 (speaker, male)
Interviewers
Merchant, Paul (speaker, male)
Abstract
Part 3: Comments on being demobilised to Pembroke College [PC], UO. Description of distinction between school leavers and demobilised troops. [3:43] Description of own room in PC. [7:38] Comments Oxford college system. [08:17] Discussion of prevailing view of Geography in contrast to ‘hard’ sciences. [10:28] Comments on tutorial system at UO. [11:33] Comments on reasons for reading Geography. [13:15] Remarks on own secret ambition to be an explorer; buying books. [16:30] Detailed comments on difference between backgrounds of arts and science students. [18:26] Description of the School of Geography, UO. Comments on Head of School Kenneth Mason; essays; lectures; tutor. [23:25] Comments on lecturer E W Gilbert. [slight mute] [24:18] Comments on lectures on countries; status of original research; land-use studies; Ellen Semple’s ‘Influences of Geographic Environment’. [27:54] Comments on field work in Ireland. [29:33] Story about joining OEC; Secretary of OEC, Geoffrey Hattersley-Smith [GHS], New College. [telephone rings]. Comments on OEC’s history and organisation.. [32:04] Comments on choice of tropical and polar regions for OEC expeditions; funding; difference from activities of Oxford Ski Club [OSC]. Story about currency exchange on OSC trip. [36:21] Comments on OEC expedition to Iceland, led by botanist Fred Whitehead. Story about evacuating expedition member suffering from ‘exposure’. [42:03] Comments on difficulties of travelling across icecap. [43:25] Description of formation of ‘dirt cones’ studied by CS in Iceland. [45:22] Comments on being encouraged to write paper on dirt cones by founder of British Glaciological Society [BGS], Gerald Seligman [GS], published in volume one of ‘The Journal of Glaciology’; papers on meteorology. [47:06] Comments on links with senior meteorologists through equipment loans and British glaciologists through newsletter on the study of snow and ice begun by GS; modest beginnings of organised British glaciology; inspiration of Max Perutz [MP]; MP’s early interest in skiing and glaciology; international interest in 1930s in nature of glacier flow in relation to depth. [49:59] [slight mute] Comments on being introduced to GS by GHS; attending lectures of the Society for the Study of Snow and Ice [SSSI]; value of scientific and practical experience in application for later NBSE. [52:54] Description of formation of ‘dirt cones’. [54:36] Comments on Fred Whitehead’s interest in marginal botanical conditions; disciplinary scientific backgrounds of members of the SSSI, including GS and MP. Description of MP’s work on relations between ice flow and depth. [58:25] Comments on work of British physicists John Glen [JG] and John Nye [JN] on a flow law for ice; development of glaciology from the 1940s involving increasing numbers of chemists, physicists, engineers later mathematicians; own encouragement of increasing scientific specialisation in glaciology. [1:03:14] Comments on role of Francis Huxley, son of Julian Huxley, zoologist in organising OEC expedition to the Gambia; problem of hippopotami rolling on floodplain rice fields; sponsorship of British Colonial Office. [1:07:17] Description of Land Utilisation Survey [LUS]. [1:10:33] Positive comments on colonial management. [1:14:37] Detailed description of LUS. [1:21:00] Comments on travel in Gambia; relations with local people. [1:24:58] Comments on scientific make-up of Gambian expedition. Story of cutting open hippopotamus’ stomach. [1:27:46] Mentions film made on the expedition, shown at RGS. [1:29:23] Comments on two-day course at Colonial Film Unit [CFU], London; film made of whaling factory ship, 1949. [1:41:04] Comments on Gambian monoculture; ground-nuts scheme; ‘strange-farmers’. [1:45:15] Comments on view of Gambians; local people’s tendency to accept foreign questioning and advice; benign purpose of expedition. [1:50:18] Story of being asked by Oxford botanist Scott Russell [SR] to join NBSE. [1:53:03] Comments on NBSE as first International expedition; competitiveness of three national committees; relative financial contributions. Story of Norwegian formal national claim to area of Antarctica sought by secret German expedition 1938-39; effect on Norwegian interest and funding.[1:56:53] Comments on own ignorance of national discussions, disagreements at committee level; Kevin Walton’s views on dogs and sledges; superiority of Norwegian sledges; national supplies of food, tents, clothing. Detailed description of various dog food supplies. [2:03:48] Detailed comments on national styles of Antarctic exploration, including clothing and equipment. [2:09:04] Mentions own copy of cargo manifest. Comments on feeling unqualified as Assistant Glaciologist. [2:10:43] Description of practical training on Kebnekajse Massif, Swedish Lapland with expedition’s principal glaciologist Valter Schytt [VS]. Story of flat skiing in blizzard; being shown sliding method. [2:15:06] Story of walking through snow in blizzard with VS. Mentions Army ‘Weasel’ amphibious vehicle driving, maintenance course. [2:17:47] Comments on intention to study crystal structure of ice by drilling for microscope sections; preparing by attending tutorial with MP; crystallography textbook. [2:19:29] Comments on examining microscope sections in cold lab with VS; taking turns to use microscope with finger-tips exposed; write up shared with VS. [2:21:35] Comments on DPhil using expedition results; precise surveying; studying deformation with markers; insufficient mathematical training to analyse surface strain; supervision of DPhil by Kenneth Sandford, Geology Department, Oxford; DPhil published by Norwegian Polar Institute; Norwegian prestige. [2:27:55] Long story of employment in polar research after DPhil, including desire of British members to stay for third year on NBSE, four year employment on Canadian North-West-Passage pack-ice project [2:33:31] Long story of attending then leading USAP [United States Antarctic Program] from University of Michigan [UOM] to Antarctica; procuring equipment; recruiting members; funding. [2:41:22] Story of leading NSF expedition. Comments on taking measurements of ice movement; publication in journal Science with cover picture.
Description
Life story interview with Charles Swithinbank, glaciologist
Related transcripts
Charles Swithinbank interviewed by Paul Merchant: full transcript of the interview
Related links
Visit this interviewee's page on the 'Voices of Science' web resource
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User notes for this item
How to ski walk through a Swedish blizzard
Posted by David Govier, Archivist, Oral History, British Library on 12/01/2017 16:54:00