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| Keeling Curve through 2011 |
The society added the Scripps campus to its register of historic sites
for the work that began there that came to be known as the Keeling
Curve. Scripps will join locations such as the Franklin Institute in
Philadelphia, at which are housed implements used by Benjamin Franklin
in his study of electricity; New Jersey's Bell Laboratories, where the
transistor was invented; and the site at Montreal's McGill University
where Ernest Rutherford first identified radioactivity.
The ceremony will take place during Scripps Day, an annual event honoring alumni, students and faculty, at Scripps' Ritter Hall. The building houses many of the original instruments Keeling invented to make ultraprecise measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations beginning in 1957. Over the course of several decades, Keeling and his successors demonstrated how carbon dioxide has increased to levels not seen in several hundred thousand years, and contributed significantly to society's modern understanding of climate change.
The measurements that feed the Keeling Curve have been made atop
Hawaii's Mauna Loa since 1958. The society selected the Scripps campus
for the plaque dedication, however, citing it as the locale at which
Keeling's crucial development of the measurements and important
interactions with Scripps Director Roger Revelle took place.
"Revelle's plan was to take a 'snapshot' of the planet's carbon dioxide
levels at a number of locations during the International Geophysical
Year (IGY) 1957-1958, and then repeat the observations a few decades
later to see whether the predicted rise had occurred," the society wrote
in a summary of Keeling's achievement. "But Keeling was so dedicated to
precision that he was able to detect a rise within two years."
Keeling died in 2005 but son Ralph, himself a geochemist at Scripps
Oceanography, has continued the carbon dioxide measurement series.
"This is a tremendous honor. It's great to see my father's work honored
in this way," said Ralph Keeling. "Even after half a century, it's
amazing how these measurements are still a center of attention and in
fact continue to grow in importance."
Ritter Hall, the second oldest laboratory building on campus and the
home for Keeling's groundbreaking research, is appropriately named for
the first director of Scripps, William Ritter, whose vision for
inclusion of all fields related to the ocean environment led directly to
the wide range of interdisciplinary studies at Scripps, including
hiring Charles Keeling to do research on CO2. Ritter Hall was designed
by Louis Gill in 1930 and completed in 1931. Gill was the nephew of the
renowned, innovative architect, Irving Gill, who designed Scripps first
laboratory building, the George H. Scripps Laboratory. The plaque
honoring Keeling will be placed prominently on the west side of the
building by the main entrance.
"My father clearly had a sense he was doing this for posterity and here
we are," said Ralph Keeling. "I wish we could say CO2 levels were no
longer rising but we have a long way to go on that."
The APS began its Historic Sites Initiative in 2004. With the addition of the Scripps campus, there are 20 locations on the society's registry in North America.
About Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Scripps Institution of Oceanography at University of California, San
Diego, is one of the oldest, largest and most important centers for
global science research and education in the world. Now in its second
century of discovery, the scientific scope of the institution has grown
to include biological, physical, chemical, geological, geophysical and
atmospheric studies of the earth as a system. Hundreds of research
programs covering a wide range of scientific areas are under way today
in 65 countries. The institution has a staff of about 1,400, and annual
expenditures of approximately $170 million from federal, state and
private sources. Scripps operates robotic networks, and one of the
largest U.S. academic fleets with four oceanographic research ships and
one research platform for worldwide exploration.
Birch Aquarium at Scripps serves as the interpretive center of the
institution and showcases Scripps research and a diverse array of marine
life through exhibits and programming for more than 415,000 visitors
each year.
Learn more at scripps.ucsd.edu.
About UC San Diego
Fifty years ago, the founders of the University of California, San
Diego, had one criterion for the campus: It must be distinctive. Since
then, UC San Diego has achieved the extraordinary in education, research
and innovation. Sixteen Nobel laureates have taught on campus; stellar
faculty members have been awarded Fields Medals, Pulitzer Prizes,
MacArthur Fellowships and many other honors. UC San Diego — recognized as
one of the top 10 public universities by U.S. News & World Report
and named by the Washington Monthly as No.1 in the nation in
rankings measuring "what colleges are doing for the country" — is widely
acknowledged for its local impact, national influence and global reach.
UC San Diego is celebrating 50 years of visionaries, innovators and
overachievers. 50th.ucsd.edu