Walter Orr Roberts

Building HAO, NCAR, and a Foundation for Scientific Innovation in Boulder

Front page of typewritten minutes.

NCAR

Hiring Roberts to lead the new national center

In these minutes from 1960, the Executive Committee discuss the decision to offer NCAR's first directorship to Walter Orr Roberts. In accepting the position, Roberts had two conditions: that HAO would join with NCAR and that the new NCAR headquarters would be located in Boulder. The committee discusses opportunities for merging HAO and NCAR and agree that Boulder is a sound choice for the headquarters due to its convenient location and its burgeoning scientific community that included the University of Colorado and the National Bureau of Standards Propagation Laboratory.

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Home High Altitude Observatory National Center for Atmospheric Research
University of Colorado at Boulder Boulder, Colorado Writings and Achievements

Walter Orr Roberts was a renowned scientist, leader, and pioneer in the fields of solar-terrestrial study, astronomy, and climate science. He established and directed the High Altitude Observatory (HAO); founded the Department of Astro-Geophysics at the University of Colorado-Boulder (CU-Boulder); served as the first director of the National Center for Atmopheric Research (NCAR); the first president of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), and led the Program on Food, Climate, and the World’s Future at the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies. He was a tireless advocate for an active response to climate change, international scientific collaboration, and science education. Beyond these individual accomplishments, he built a scientific community in Boulder, creating long-lasting partnerships, including those between NCAR, HAO, and CU-Boulder that continue to grow and thrive today.

This exhibit brings together material from the NCAR Archives and the Special Collections, Archives, and Preservation at the University of Colorado Boulder Libraries to tell the story of Walter Orr Roberts and his significant impact on the institutions he was involved with, and his lasting legacy in the scientific enterprise.