Larry Sweet

Born and raised in Fairbanks, Alaska, Larry Sweet became interested in science after the launch of the Sputnik 1 satellite. In 1958, he was hired by the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) as a student to work on data collection at remote field sites, and continued to work every summer while in college. He earned a college degree in engineering from Washington State University and upon graduation was hired by Lockheed Missiles and Space Company in Sunnyvale, California. He returned to Alaska two years later and was hired as a field engineer at the Geophysical Institute. During his career, he worked on an auroral television project, collaborated with the military on missile tracking and early warning systems, was involved in rocket launches at Poker Flat Research Range, and helped build the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Facility at UAF and served as its facility operations supervisor. He retired from the Geophysical Institute in 1995. In 2000, he participated in the afternoon storytelling session at the 50th Anniversary Celebration of the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and shared some of his memories of working there in the early years.