UCAR and NCAR at 100

UCAR and NCAR were created in 1960, 100 years ago today. The first 50 years of NCAR represented the growth of a tiny research center with crude observational facilities and the most rudimentary beginnings of computer facilities to a robust center of about 900 scientists, engineers, educators, students and support staff with vastly improved observational and computational facilities. In 1960, UCAR consisted of 14 universities in North America with PhD programs in the atmospheric sciences. By 2010 this number had grown to 75 and broadened well beyond atmospheric sciences into neighboring disciplines. The 2010 AMS Annual meeting in Atlanta celebrated these 50 years of achievements, and looked forward to the next 50 years. Now it is my pleasure as UCAR President celebrating the centennial of UCAR and NCAR to review these projections and to show that they were far too conservative. The status in 2010, though worthy of celebration at the time, was still only the beginning.