Papers of Charles F. Kennel, physicist and Director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Vice Chancellor and Dean of Marine Sciences at UC San Diego from 1998-2006. The collection contains a small amount of correspondence and writings, and files representative of some of his high-level work with various academic and governmental organizations, including NASA.
Charles F. Kennel Papers, 1989-2012 (SMC 9)
Extent: 3.2 Linear feet (8 archives boxes), + .25 GB of digital files
Charles Frederick Kennel (1939- ) is a scientist, physicist, and former Director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Vice Chancellor and Dean of Marine Sciences at UC San Diego from 1997-2006. Kennel earned an A.B. in Astronomy from Harvard University in 1959, and a PhD in Astrophysical Science from Princeton University in 1964.
In 1967, he joined the faculty of the Department of Physics at the University of California, Los Angeles. From 1996 to 1998, he served as UCLA's Executive Vice Chancellor. Over the course of his career, Kennel has published over 250 papers and articles exploring topics ranging from plasma physics, to climate change and earth science, to nonlinear science.
Kennel has collaborated extensively with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), primarily in an advisory capacity. He was a member of the Science Advisory Group from 1971 to 1972, the Space and Earth Science Advisory Committee from 1987 to 1989, and the Advisory Council since 1998. He served as Associate Administrator and Director of the Mission to Planet Earth from 1996 to 1998, and chaired the Advisory Council from 2001 to 2005.
He was appointed Director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Vice Chancellor and Dean of Marine Sciences at UCSD in 1997. During his nine years at SIO, he oversaw changes to graduate and undergraduate teaching, responded to state budget cuts, and introduced new collaborations and initiatives, including the Environment and Sustainability Initiative.
Kennel has served on or been affiliated with innumerable science organizations, corporate and public sector boards, and advisory committees. Among his many accolades are the inaugural Hannes Alfvén Medal from the European Geophysical Society, and the 1997 James Clerk Maxwell Prize from the American Physical Society.
Kennel published an autobiography in 2023 entitled From the Cold War to Global Warming: A Scientific Odyssey, which can be accessed on the University of California Escholarsip website: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6pj6c3rf.
Papers of Charles F. Kennel, physicist and Director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Vice Chancellor and Dean of Marine Sciences at UC San Diego from 1998-2006. The collection mostly consists of files representative of some of his high-level work with various academic and governmental organizations, including the National Academy of Science National Research Council (NAS/NAR), and the NASA Advisory Committee (NAC). There is a very small amount of original correspondence, email print-outs, and manuscripts, and the collection does include a small number of speeches and presentations. There are no teaching materials or significant administrative files relating to his administrator positions at UCLA or SIO.
Arranged in four series: 1) BIOGRAPHICAL, 2) CORRESPONDENCE, 3) ORGANIZATIONS AND CONFERENCES, and 4) WRITINGS AND PRESENTATIONS.