Archives – Winter 2003

Photo: University of Texas at Dallas

Lloyd V. Berkner

Lloyd V. Berkner (1905-1967) began his research career with the study of ionospheric conditions surrounding the transmission of radio signals, which he undertook during the period he served as a radio engineer with Byrd’s 1928-1930 Antarctic expedition. Berkner continued this work during the 1930s while he was with the Carnegie Institution of Washington’s Department of Terrestrial Magnetism. As head of the Navy’s aviation electronics engineering efforts in World War II, Berkner was responsible for outfitting Navy combat aircraft with radar. After the war, he helped organize Department of Defense research activities and helped convince the Department of State that it needed to have scientists on staff. In the early 1950s, Berkner proposed an international research program that was to become the International Geophysical Year of 1957-1958–a massive undertaking of international scientific cooperation on a global scale. Following the conclusion of the IGY, Berkner was instrumental in founding the Graduate Research Center of the Southwest, which later evolved into the University of Texas at Dallas. The photo above was taken at the dedication of the Center on October 19, 1964.