Correspondence and Subject Files

This series is arranged broadly chronologically, reflecting ZK's own filing system. Arrangement is based on the title headings of files as given by ZK.

Within this series is contained Kopal's correspondence and subject files, dating from the 1950s to the 1990s. The correspondence is with scores of individuals and organisations of national and international importance in Britain and the United States.

Organisations: EOAR (and later EOARD) European Office of Aerospace Research and Development was established on 22 August 1952 until 1 July 1975, approximately one year after its assignment to the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFSC). During the course of those 23 years, EOAR (and later EOARD) was assigned at various times to the Air Research and Development Command, the Office of Aerospace Research, the Air Force Systems Command, and, lastly, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. The on-going mission of the European Office of Aerospace Research and Development (EOARD) is to discover, shape, and champion basic science of Air Force interest through collaborations with the international scientific community.

Space programmes: Mariner. A 10-mission programme conducted by the American National Aeronautics and Space Administration agency (NASA) in conjunction with Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The Mariner program launched a series of robotic interplanetary probes, from 1962 to 1973, designed to investigate Mars, Venus and Mercury. The programme included a number of firsts, including the first planetary flyby, the first planetary orbiter, and the first gravity assist manoeuvre.

The correspondence has been divided into various folders reflecting the way in which ZK arranged his correspondence: most of them were filed A-Z by subject and arranged chronologically within.

Kopal habitually gave titles to his files which accurately described their contents; in some cases he did this by abbreviating the title. Original names have been retained except in cases where the given title was not meaningful, and a more meaningful title is required. In a minority of cases, files were untitled or the original title was missing; in these cases, a meaningful title has been given by the archivist based on the file's content.