ABSTRACT
Beginning in 1940 and throughout his service as Executive Secretary of the post-war military’s Joint Research and Development Board, Lloyd Berkner had focused his considerable organizing skills on solving problems for the U.S. military. Berkner’s next goal, beginning in fall 1947, was to rebuild his own scientific career by reinvigorating the Carnegie Institution of Washington’s research effort on the relations between the earth’s magnetic field and the dynamics of the upper atmosphere. It was a goal he had set as early as October 1945. 1 Having been diverted for a year into setting up administrative offices and recruiting scientists to serve on the JRDB’s many committees, Berkner became increasingly concerned about his status as a research scientist. Especially troubling were the reports he received from Merle Tuve, who in the interim had been chosen to succeed John Fleming as Director of the Carnegie Department of Terrestrial Magnetism (DTM). Tuve was not pleased with the level of progress being made in Berkner’s absence by the DTM ionospheric research group. 2
