UCSD Founder Revelle in Critical Condition After Heart Surgery

UC San Diego founder Roger Revelle was listed in critical but stable condition Tuesday after undergoing triple-bypass surgery and aortic valve replacement at UCSD Medical Center, a hospital spokeswoman said. The surgery was performed Monday.

Revelle was “not feeling very well” when he was admitted Thursday for monitoring and testing, said Leslie Franz, a hospital spokeswoman.

Revelle, who will be 81 on March 7, had a pacemaker implanted last year, Franz said.

The bypass and valve surgery were performed by Dr. Stuart W. Jamieson, who joined the UCSD medical staff in July, 1989, from the University of Minnesota.

Franz said that Revelle’s wife, Ellen, has been “spending a lot of time with him.”

Revelle’s research in geology, oceanography and atmospherics has brought him global reknown. He laid the groundwork for the theory of plate tectonics and was one of the first scientists to recognize the danger posed to the atmosphere by the burning of fossil fuels.

For his research on the buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, Revelle won the Balzan Prize in oceanography and climatology in October, 1986. The little known but prestigious prize--a medal and $165,000 cash--is awarded yearly in fields not represented by the Nobel Prize by the International Balzan Foundation of Milan, Italy.

While serving as director of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Revelle envisioned a university dedicated to scientific research. That institution, sitting on 50 acres of public land donated by the city of San Diego and next to the Scripps Institution, was dedicated in November, 1960, as the University of California, San Diego.

Revelle served as director of the Scripps Institution from 1950 to 1964 and then as head of Harvard University’s Center for Population Studies until June, 1975.

Revelle is now a professor of science and public policy at UCSD, a position he has held since 1975.