Speaker: Michael Allison (GISS)

Title: The "Space Age" Years and the Goddard Institute for
Space Studies -- Historical Excavation and Personal Reminiscence

Abstract: On October 4, 1957 the Soviet Union shocked the world
with its launch of Sputnik, the first artificial space satellite.
After Premier Khrushchev asked a distraught America to return the
booster rocket alleged to have fallen on its soil, a nuclear physicist from
the Naval Research Lab stood up at a conference in Moscow to present his
mathematical conclusion that it must have fallen instead somewhere along a track
centered on Outer Mongolia.  Shortly after, Dr.  Robert Jastrow was invited
to join the newly formed National Aeronautics and Space Administration and
given the duty of organizing a "Theoretical Division" with a branch office in
New York City.  At its 1961 inception, the Goddard Institute for Space Studies
(GISS) was housed in the Interchurch Center at 120th St.  and Riverside, but
soon moved to the former Oxford Hotel at 112th St.  and Broadway.  The Institute
attracted many bright minds to engage a dazzling variety of space science problems,
from lunar origins to general relativity to cloud climatology.  Among its former
residents and visitors: Albert Arking, David Arnett, John Brandt, Alistair Cameron,
Jule Charney, Therese Encrenaz, Inez Fung, Sheldon Green, John Mather, Michael
Rampino, Ichtiaque Rasool, Peter Stone, Richard Stothers, and Patrick Thaddeus.
In the 1970s, Dr.  James Hansen successfully proposed polarimeter experiments
for the Pioneer Venus and Galileo (Jupiter) missions, and in 1981 succeeded Dr.
Jastrow as the GISS director.  The Institute's nimble mix of computer modeling,
space measurements, and "deep thought" pioneered several lines of research and
gave prescient warning of the great environmental challenge of the 21st century.
This talk, culled from the speaker's personal experience, conversations with
colleagues, and his whimsical search of the document archives, will recount
a few of the scientific stories along the way and wonder the meanings of
a "Goddard Space Flight" office on Broadway.  

Related Reading:
Hansen, J.E.  (Ed.) 1975.  The Atmosphere of Venus -- The proceedings
   of a conference held at the Goddard Institute for Space Studies on October 15-17,
   1974.  NASA SP-382.  Washington, DC.
Jastrow, R.  1967.  Red Giants and White Dwarfs – The Evolution of Stars, Planets and
   Life.  Harper & Row, New York.
Newell, H.E.  1980.  Beyond the Atmosphere -- Early Years of Space Science.  NASA
   SP-4211.  Washington, DC.
Sagan, C.  1994.  Pale Blue Dot -- A Vision of the Human Future in Space.  Random
   House, New York.