Scope and Content Note
The papers of Harry Wexler (1911-1962) span the years 1929-1962 and relate mainly to his career as a geophysicist and meteorologist, with the focus on the years he was with the United States Weather Bureau, 1934-1942 and 1946-1962, and the Weather Service of the United States Air Force, 1942-1946. The collection consists of five series: General Correspondence ; Speech, Lecture, and Article File ; Subject File ; Miscellany ; and Printed Matter .
Prominent subjects include meteorological satellites (Tiros I), the use of high-speed computers for numerical weather prediction, and weather modification. Also in the collection are files relating to the United States expedition to the Antarctic for the International Geophysical Year, 1957-1958. Wexler was chief scientist for the expedition, and the journal he kept, 1955-1959, constitutes a detailed record of the mission. The collection also includes papers from his school years at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Correspondents include Werner A. Baum, Charles Franklin Brooks, Hugh L. Dryden, Oren Harris, Henry G. Houghton, Jerome C. Hunsaker, Hugh Odishaw, Francis W. Reichelderfer, John Von Neumann, and Fred L. Whipple.