Part III: Antarctica and Academe - Scott Polar Research Institute

practice this was unworkable because the interests of appointed National
Representatives did not guarantee adequate cover of each of the three major areas of
interest. GOSEAC was established, with W N Bonner as convenor. A Planning Group
for the Antarctic Science Conference was established with G Hempel as chairman;
the Executive would consider invitations to host the conference from Germany, NZ
and USA. Discussions were held on a proposed SCAR Global Change Programme.
Subsequently in June l989 the Executive Committee (June l989) noted that the first
meeting of COMNAP was to be held in October l989. With establishment of
SCALOP, the SCAR WG on Logistics would be disbanded.
Some other key persona
Events in the l990s will be discussed later. But first I should return to mention of
other people who had a leading role in the evolution of SCAR, and to document the
growth in its membership.
Table 2 gives details of the Presidents of SCAR from l958 to l998. Laurence Gould
was a geologist (?), the Chief Scientist on the first Byrd Expedition and powerful in
US academic circles as head of the Antarctic IGY Committee. He had access to
executive and legislative power. Col. Georges Laclavère was Secretary General of the
International Union of Geodesy & Geophysics (IUGG) with great experience of
international scientific politics. He had a forceful manner and was determined to put
science before politics. Dr Gordon Robin is a physicist who did his PhD under
Oliphant. He first visited the Antarctic in 1947, where I met him nine months later
when he handed over his base to me! He was a member of the NBS Expedition (l952-
53) and later became Director of the Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge. He
served as Secretary of SCAR from the beginning (for 12 years, the first as Acting
Secretary) and was President from 1970-74. Professor Tore Gjelsvik, a geologist, is a
leading Norwegian polar scientist, a former Director of the Norsk Polarinstitutt and a
member of the Norwegian Academy of Science. Professor George Knox was
Professor of Zoology at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
and is a former President of INTECOL. His personal research is on marine ecology.
Professor Jim Zumberge, was a geophysicist, sometime President of several
American Universities, most recently the University of Southern California. Claud
Lorius, a member of the French Academie of Sciences, is a leading French
Glaciologist, best known for his collaborative work on the Vostok ice core and the
light it throws on past world climates. My own personal research has been mainly on
large marine animals (seals and whales) and on large African mammals
(hippopotamus and elephant). As a Fellow of the Royal Society, I was formerly
Director of the British Antarctic Survey and more recently Master of a Cambridge
College. Tony Rocha-Campos is a Brazilian geologist. Bob Rutford is a geophysicist,
who was closely involved with the management of the Ross Ice Shelf Drilling Project
(RISP). He has been President of two American Universities, most recently
University of Texas, Dallas.
Robin, Knox, Lorius and Rocha-Campos also served as Secretary of SCAR, Robin
for 12 years, making him the longest-serving member of the SCAR Executive (20
years as Secretary, President and Past-President!). Others, not already mentioned,
who served on the SCAR Executive over the years were, as Secretary: G A Avsiuk,
USSR; K Birkenmajer, Poland; V Schytt, IGU (Sweden). As Vice President: C R
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