Munk, Walter, 1994-09-28

Oral history interview with Walter Munk, 1994. Interviewed by Lawrence Armi. 1 sound cassette (ca. 1 hr.) : analog, mono + transcript (38 pgs.). AMS 108; two physical versions (one master, one copy). Forms part of American Meteorological Society Oral History Project. Walter Munk begins by discussing what it was like to grow up in Austria and his reasons for coming to America. He talks about how he started off working as a banker, but did not really enjoy it, and ended up at Caltech. He goes on to talk about meeting Harald Sverdrup and getting a job at Scripps. He explains how he got his Masters and how he ended up in oceanography for his Ph.D. Munk talks about his short stint in the Army, and then his work with Sverdrup on wave prediction at the Pentagon. He discusses spectroscopy, and how it was integrated into the field of physical oceanography. During his work at the Pentagon, Munk had his clearance there revoked for about three months. He talks about how he found out that he had been under government surveillance those three months because of Sverdrup's wife's anti-American comments. Munk also addresses his working and personal relationships with Carl Eckhart and Roger Revelle. He next talks about his work with IGPP and the Fleischmann Foundation.