Timeline

  • 1946
    Established by an Act of Congress
    Newspaper cutout of sketch of Sydney Chapman building

    Whereas the University of Alaska, because of its unique location and the work it has accomplished in the past, is a logical site for a permanent geophysical research station … there is hereby authorized to be appropriated … $975,000 for the construction and establishment of a geophysical institute. 

  • 1951
    Building Construction Complete
    Chapman Building, the first location of the Geophysical Institute

    Using $975,000 of federally appropriated funding, construction of the new Geophysical Institute building is complete.

About

Since it was established by an Act of Congress in 1946, scientists at the Geophysical Institute have studied geophysical processes from the center of the Earth to the surface of the sun and beyond, turning data and observations into information useful for state, Arctic and national priorities.

Contact info

The GI is located on the West Ridge of the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus.

2156 Koyukuk Drive
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Fairbanks, AK 99775

We acknowledge the Alaska Native nations upon whose ancestral lands our campuses reside. In Fairbanks, our Troth Yeddha' Campus is located on the ancestral lands of the Dena people of the lower Tanana River.

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