Gordon H. Pettengill personal archives
Scope and Contents
The Gordon H. Pettengill personal archives includes research materials relating to projects on Venus, Mars, and Saturn's rings, travel files for conferences and professional organizational meetings, biographical materials, correspondence, teaching and administrative materials.
Venus related projects covered include VOIR (Venus Orbiter Imaging Radar), the Radar Mapper Experiment carried out on the Pioneer Venus Orbiter from 1978 through 1981 which provided a comprehensive view of the surface of Venus, and the Magellan (Venus-radar-mapping (VRM)) Mission that was launched in May of 1989. Mars projects include MOLA (Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter) and MORAR (Mars Observer Radar Altimeter Radiometer). Research and data around Saturn's rings is present as is work conducted around planetary nomenclature.
Pettengill served as Associate Director from 1963 to 1965, and as Director, from 1968 to 1970, of the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. Arecibo material is found throughout the collection.
Work with professional organizations is well represented in files related to meetings, conferences, and committee work and includes the Division for Planetary Sciences (DPS), American Astronomical Society (AAS), American Geophysical Union (AGU), the International Astronomical Union (IAU), and the International Union for Radio Science (URSI) among others.
Dates
- 1950 - 2004
Creator
- Pettengill, Gordon H. (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
Materials in this collection are open unless they are marked as restricted. Restrictions are noted in the container list.
Conditions Governing Use
Access to collections in the Department of Distinctive Collections is not authorization to publish. Please see the MIT Libraries Permissions Policy for permission information. Copyright of some items in this collection may be held by respective creators, not by the donor of the collection or MIT.
Biographical Note
Gordon H. Pettengill, born 1926, was Professor Emeritus in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He received an SB in physics from the MIT in 1948, and a PhD from the University of California at Berkeley in physics in 1955. He began his career at MIT by working on planetary radar at Lincoln Laboratory in the late 1950s. From 1963 to 1965 Pettengill served as Associate Director and from 1968 to 1970 as Director of the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. He was appointed Professor of Planetary Physics in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences in 1970. He was Director of the Center for Space Research from 1984 to 1990. He served on the Committee on Graduate School Policy as chairperson of the Subjects and Performances Evaluation sub-committee from 1976 to 1982. In 1995, Pettengill retired from MIT but continued to be active in research until his death in 2021.
Extent
44 Cubic Feet (43 record cartons, 2 flat boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Gordon H. Pettengill, born 1926, was Professor Emeritus in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He is known for using radar to map the surface of Venus. The Gordon H. Pettengill personal archives includes research materials relating to projects on Venus, Mars, and Saturn's rings, travel files for conferences and professional organizational meetings, biographical materials, correspondence, teaching and administrative materials.
Arrangement
Collection is in original arrangement.
Physical Location
Materials are stored off-site. Advance notice is required for use.
Processing Information note
Some collection descriptions are based on legacy data and may be incomplete or contain inaccuracies. Description may change pending verification. Please contact the MIT Department of Distinctive Collections if you notice any errors or discrepancies.
- Astronomy -- Research Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Pettengill, Gordon H.
Creator
- Pettengill, Gordon H. (Person)
- Title
- Preliminary Inventory to the Personal Archives of Gordon H. Pettengill
- Author
- Greta Kuriger Suiter added box listing for boxes 15-45 and notes (September 2018)
- Date
- 2018
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Revision Statements
- 2021 July 9: Edited by Lana Mason for compliance with DACS single-level optimum requirements and to remove aggrandizing terms in the abstract note description.
Repository Details
Part of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Libraries. Department of Distinctive Collections Repository
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Libraries
Building 14N-118
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Cambridge MA 02139-4307 US
distinctive-collections@mit.edu