Skip to main content

Sidney Kaufman Papers

 Collection
Identifier: 16-14-4201

COLLECTION DESCRIPTION

Papers include material on earthquakes and seismology, elastic waves, nuclear and underwater explosions, his work during employment with Shell Oil Company and material while a professor at Cornell, including course notes and COCORP items. Also, his work with the Navy Navigation Satellite System, radiolocation, and Shell's analog computer. In addition, photographs/negatives and ephemera from his student years at Cornell and a set of Gemini photographs from NASA.

Also, a VHS tape titled "Recollections by Sidney Kaufman". In 2003, a group of people met with Sidney Kaufman for an interview. He discussed many aspects of his life, including being a student and teaching at Cornell, his wife and jobs, WWII, and radar.

Dates

  • circa 1930-2007.

Creator

Language of Materials

Collection material in English

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Sidney Kaufman obtained his BS degree from Cornell in 1930 and his Ph.D. degree in Physics from Cornell in 1934. He worked for Shell Oil Company, during which he is credited with the world's first offshore seismic survey for oil, carried out in the 1940's. Sid left his senior position at Shell to join Cornell as Acting Professor in 1973 (Dept. of Geological Sciences, now titled Earth and Atmospheric Sciences). Along with Emeritus Professor Jack Oliver, Sid initiated the Consortium for Continental Reflection Profiling (COCORP) project at Cornell, which pioneered in the use of oil exploration techniques to study the deep structure of the continents. In 1983 Sid received the Virgil Kauffman Gold Medal Award from the Society of Exploration Geophysicists for outstanding contribution to the advancement of the science of geophysical exploration.

Extent

2.5 cubic feet. (2.5 cubic feet.)

Abstract

Papers include material on earthquakes and seismology, elastic waves, nuclear and underwater explosions, his work during employment with Shell Oil Company and material while a professor at Cornell, including course notes and COCORP items. Also, his work with the Navy Navigation Satellite System, radiolocation, and Shell's analog computer. In addition, photographs/negatives and ephemera from his student years at Cornell and a set of Gemini photographs from NASA.

Physical Description

Correspondence, maps/charts, movie film, newspapers, photographs, publications, reports, research material.

General

Contact Information:
Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections 2B Carl A. Kroch Library Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853 (607) 255-3530 Fax: (607) 255-9524rareref@cornell.eduhttp://rmc.library.cornell.edu
Compiled by:
Jude Corina
Date completed:
July 2015
EAD encoding:
Jude Corina, July 2015
Status
Completed
Author
Compiled by RMC Staff
Date
May 2015
Language of description
Undetermined
Script of description
Code for undetermined script

Repository Details

Part of the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections Repository

Contact:
2B Carl A. Kroch Library
Cornell University
Ithaca NY 14853
607-255-3530
607-255-9524 (Fax)