William E. Siri

Interviews conducted in Richmond, California, 1975-1977, by Ann Lage for the Regional Oral History Office of The Bancroft Library as part of the Sierra Club History Series. Introduction by Phillip Berry; copies of photographs inserted. Comments on scientific studies at Chicago University and the University of California, Berkeley; experiences as a member of the Manhattan Project and later as a biophysicist with the Donner Laboratory, 1945-1974; his work on the use of radioisotopes in diagnosis and treatment of diseases, and studies made in Peru for the Lab on effects of high altitude, 1950 and 1953; association with the Lawrence Laboratory’s energy analysis program; Sierra Club activities from 1944 as secretary, board member, president, and member of the investment committee; the Sierra Club Foundation and the Sierra Club Council; new concerns of the Club– pollution, pesticides, nuclear energy, etc.,; campaigns for the Redwood National Park, the Grand Canyon, and Mineral King; work with the U. S. Forest Service, U. S. National Park Service, the Coastal Alliance, the Save the San Francisco Bay Association and the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission; controversies over the Tioga Road in Yosemite, Diablo Canyon/Nipomo Dunes, Peripheral Canal/California Water Plan and David Brower; mountaineering in Yosemite, Peru and on expeditions to Makalu and Mount Everest; travels, 1957-1958, with the International Physiological Expedition to Antarctica to measure physiological stress on residents working in the area.


Date of Interview

Interviewer

1975-01-01

Ann Lage

Project

Program/Repository

Sierra Club Oral Histories

The Bancroft Library Oral History Center

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Portrait of William E. Siri. In a black and white photograph, an older white man is seen seated, wearing a dark suit, white shirt, and dark tie, clasping his hands while holding a pipe, looing at the camera.
Courtesy of The Bancroft Library Oral History Center

[The] psychological stresses are intense. They're bound to reveal a man's basic makeup in many subtle and overt ways.