the job very much, I wanted to stay here, and I probably 

 would have stayed here if it hadn't come through. I would 

 have definitely stayed here if it hadn't come through. I 

 would have probably resigned as University Dean of Research 

 because I thought that was a non-job, but I would have 

 stayed as director of Scripps probably. 



But there was never any problem about the job coming 

 through. The problem was deciding whether to take it 

 because they decided after I was there that first time to 

 offer me the job. They spent months working on wooing me. 



Sharp: What were the plusses for taking the job? 



Revelle: Well, the main plus was that I thought the population 



problem was very important, something that I thought was 

 really urgent, and something had to be done about it. I 

 didn't know much about it, but I learned a lot subsequently. 

 I remember Carl Eckart was not convinced. I talked to him, 

 as I always did. He was my sort of father confessor after 

 Harald Sverdrup died. He wasn't much older than I was, 

 about ten years older I guess. He said, "Well, it may be 

 that the population problem will just solve itself, just go 

 away. " 



That certainly was true later in the United States; 

 the baby boom just stopped about 1960. The birthrate went 

 down to very low levels. It didn't stop in the less- 

 developed countries. The birthrate still stayed over 2 

 percent of the population for a long time. It still is. In 

 some countries it's as much as 4 percent. 



Then the other [plus], of course, I was flattered by 

 being offered a position at Harvard, which is, I thought, 

 the pre-eminent university in the world. Now I think that 

 Berkeley is probably greater, after having been at both 

 places. Anyhow, it is one of the two or three top 

 universities in the world. 



Sharp: Yes, it certainly was then. 



Revelle: It was then, yes. 



Then the other thing was I had these very good friends 

 whom I had worked with for several years, Harold, the two 

 Bobs, Bob Burden and Bob Dorfman, Wally Falcon, Peter 

 Rogers. He was just getting his Ph.D. then. And then Joe 

 Harrington was another one. And Jack Snyder had a very 

 winning personality. He was so gentle and so sweet, and had 

 a sweet wife named Ginty. 



I don't really remember what the turning points were, 

 but it was not a hard decision to make. 



Sharp: I would think that getting into it, because it was a new 

 center and on a much, much smaller scale of operation — . 



Revelle: Yes, very much so. 



Sharp: — that you might have had some hesitancy about whether or 



