Walter Orr Roberts papers

Born in West Bridgewater Massachusetts in 1915, Walter Orr Roberts graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Physics from Amherst College in 1938 before entering graduate school at Harvard University, under the supervision of Dr. Donald H. Menzel.

In 1940, Roberts was appointed superintendent of the Climax Observing Station of the Harvard College Observatory in Climax, Colorado, where he established a research program for the newly installed coronograph, the first in the Western Hemisphere. Invented by Bernard Lyot in the 1930s, the coronograph is a solar telescope designed to photograph solar prominences and corona through artificial eclipses of the sun. With his thesis, “Preliminary Studies of the Solar Corona and Prominences with the Harvard Coronograph,” Roberts received his Ph.D. in Astronomy from Harvard University in 1943.

In 1946, the Climax station was incorporated as the High Altitude Observatory of Harvard University and the University of Colorado, with Roberts remaining on as director. The observatory took on contracts to build equipment and conduct research for both public and private institutions, including the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory of the National Bureau of Standards, the Naval Research Laboratory, and the Radio Corporation of America, and conducted a data reporting program providing atmospheric condition reports to numerous radio and air travel companies. In 1948, the High Altitude Observatory contracted with the U.S. Army Air Force to establish a second high altitude observing station in Sacramento Peak, New Mexico.

In 1953, the High Altitude Observatory split with Harvard and came fully incorporated under the University of Colorado, which put Roberts in charge of raising and managing funds for the expanding facilities and on-going research. He showed himself uniquely adept at building long-lasting relationships with small, private and foundation contributors, like Trans World Airlines, the Boettcher Foundation, and the Fleischmann Foundation, whose trust and support he would enjoy for the rest of his career.

In 1956, Roberts became head of the newly founded Department of Astro-Geophysics at CU Boulder, what would become a prominent Ph.D. program in atmospheric science and astrophysics, where Roberts would continue teaching until his death. In the same year, Roberts founded the Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Research at the High Altitude Observatory, signaling the shift in his attention away from astronomy and toward the effects of solar phenomena on the Earth’s weather and climate. In 1957, the High Altitude Observatory participated in the International Geophysical Year project, a program to compile and centralize Earth science data from institutions around the world. The High Altitude Observatory, now with offices and laboratories on the campus of the University of Colorado in Boulder, was chosen as the World Data Center for Solar Activity during the International Geophysical Year.

In 1956, a committee of the National Academy of Sciences began a plan for a national research center for atmospheric sciences, and Roberts was approached to take on the role of director. In 1960, the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) began operations in Boulder, Colorado, funded largely by the National Science Foundation and managed by the newly incorporated University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR). Walter Orr Roberts served as the director of NCAR from 1960 until 1968, as well as President and CEO of UCAR from 1960 until 1973, remaining an active trustee of UCAR until his death. In 1961, the internationally renowned architect I.M. Pei was selected to design the NCAR Mesa Laboratory in the foothills of Boulder, Colorado, and the building was dedicated in 1967.

From 1974 to 1981, Roberts served as director of the Program on Food, Climate, and the World’s Future at the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies. He increased his research, writing, and speaking on climate change, warning of the dangers of global warming to our world food supply. In 1979, he published The Climate Mandate with Henry Lansford, on the implications of climactic variations, and he delivered expert testimony on the topic to the United States Congress in the 1960s, ‘70s, and ‘80s.

Throughout his career, Walter Orr Roberts served as an active and influential member in a wide variety of personal and professional organizations and programs, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the International Federation of Institutes for Advanced Study, the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics, the Pacific Science Board of the National Academy of Science, the International Institute for Environment and Development, and U.S.-Japan Committee on Scientific Cooperation. He also served as a trustee of the Mitre Corporation, the Charles F. Kettering Foundation, and the Winrock International Livestock Center.

In addition to his scientific research, Roberts was a vocal figure in debates on science and public policy, science education, and international relations. He lectured throughout the 1950s on the dangers of nuclear war and the necessity of international collaboration on scientific projects, often traveling to Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union, and Japan, to improve relationships among scientific communities. In the 1940s and ‘50s, Roberts testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee on his desire for cooperation among Soviet and American scientists, especially after the launch of Sputnik in 1957. He wrote regular editorials for the Boulder Daily Camera and Denver Post about issues of peace, international relations, and global agriculture through the 1980s.

A globally celebrated scientist, educator, and advocate, Roberts received many honors and awards, including 10 honorary doctorates, a medal from the United Nations Environment Programme, and the Regis University Civis Princeps award. The land surrounding the NCAR laboratory in Boulder, Colorado is now named the “Roberts Mesa.” Roberts died of cancer in Boulder in 1990. He was survived by his wife of 50 years, Janet Roberts (Smock), with whom he had four children.