Woods Hole is located at the southwest tip of the town of Falmouth on Cape Cod in Massachusetts. The term refers to a strait between Vineyard Sound and Buzzards Bay known for its extremely strong current (almost 4 knots). Its role as a center of marine science with the founding of a fisheries institute in 1871, which evolved into the Northeast Fisheries Science Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (which itself only dates back to 1970 as a merger between the US Coastal and Geodetic Survey founded in 1807, the Weather Bureau created in 1870, and the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries established in 1871). Two years later (or perhaps in 1875) Spencer Fullerton Baird, the Fish and Fisheries commissioner, invited the public to his laboratory in Woods Hole to see animals and learn about marine science; his exhibit inspired the creation of the National Aquarium in Washington, D.C. in 1878. The US government built the first marine research building in Woods Hole in 1885, and Baird arranged for its first floor to house a public aquarium that displayed fish, invertebrates, and birds, making the Woods Hole Science Aquarium the oldest aquarium in the US; it is operated by the National Marine Fisheries Service and the Marine Biological Laboratory. The MBL was founded in Woods Hole in 1888 when Baird invited Alpheus Hyatt to move his marine biology laboratory and school, which he had founded in Annisquam, Massachusetts, to Woods Hole; Hyatt was inspired to relocate there out of respect for his mentor Louis Agassiz's short-lived summer school of natural history on Penikese Island, off the coast of Woods Hole. In 1889 the MBL Library was established, and in 1899 the MBL began publishing “The Biological Bulletin.” (Eventually, in 2013, the MBL became affiliated with the University of Chicago after decades of leadership by UC faculty members.) The Woods Hole School was built in 1870; beginning in 1913, during the summer it became the home of the Children's School of Science to provides science classes for students between 8 and 15 years old that focus on scientific investigation by observation; during the winter it serves as the Woods Hole Daycare Cooperative. In 1927 a National Academy of Sciences committee concluded that it was time to "consider the share of the United States of America in a worldwide program of oceanographic research,” leading to the founding in 1930 of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in 1930. A $2.5 million grant from the Rockefeller Foundation (the University of Chicago had also been founded via Rockefeller money) supported the summer work of a dozen scientists, construction of a laboratory building, and commissioning of a research vessel. The Institution grew substantially to support defense-related research during World War II and later began a steady growth in staff, research fleet, and scientific stature, making seminal discoveries about the ocean as the largest independent oceanographic research institution in the US. Its fame among the lay public was enhanced in 1985 when, in association with the Institut français de recherche pour l'exploitation de la mer (IFREMER, French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea), it identified the location of the wreck of the “RMS Titanic,” which sank off the coast of Newfoundland in 1912. The Sea Education Association was founded in 1971; until 1975 it was operated from headquarters in Boston and Chicago but was then based in Woods Hole. Students can take semester-long courses aboard its two ships, which ply the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
Woods Hole is located at the southwest tip of the town of Falmouth on Cape Cod in Massachusetts. The term refers to a strait between Vineyard Sound and Buzzards Bay known for its extremely strong current (almost 4 knots). Its role as a center of marine science with the founding of a fisheries institute in 1871, which evolved into the Northeast Fisheries Science Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (which itself only dates back to 1970 as a merger between the US Coastal and Geodetic Survey founded in 1807, the Weather Bureau created in 1870, and the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries established in 1871). Two years later (or perhaps in 1875) Spencer Fullerton Baird, the Fish and Fisheries commissioner, invited the public to his laboratory in Woods Hole to see animals and learn about marine science; his exhibit inspired the creation of the National Aquarium in Washington, D.C. in 1878. The US government built the first marine research building in Woods Hole in 1885, and Baird arranged for its first floor to house a public aquarium that displayed fish, invertebrates, and birds, making the Woods Hole Science Aquarium the oldest aquarium in the US; it is operated by the National Marine Fisheries Service and the Marine Biological Laboratory. The MBL was founded in Woods Hole in 1888 when Baird invited Alpheus Hyatt to move his marine biology laboratory and school, which he had founded in Annisquam, Massachusetts, to Woods Hole; Hyatt was inspired to relocate there out of respect for his mentor Louis Agassiz's short-lived summer school of natural history on Penikese Island, off the coast of Woods Hole. In 1889 the MBL Library was established, and in 1899 the MBL began publishing “The Biological Bulletin.” (Eventually, in 2013, the MBL became affiliated with the University of Chicago after decades of leadership by UC faculty members.) The Woods Hole School was built in 1870; beginning in 1913, during the summer it became the home of the Children's School of Science to provides science classes for students between 8 and 15 years old that focus on scientific investigation by observation; during the winter it serves as the Woods Hole Daycare Cooperative. In 1927 a National Academy of Sciences committee concluded that it was time to "consider the share of the United States of America in a worldwide program of oceanographic research,” leading to the founding in 1930 of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in 1930. A $2.5 million grant from the Rockefeller Foundation (the University of Chicago had also been founded via Rockefeller money) supported the summer work of a dozen scientists, construction of a laboratory building, and commissioning of a research vessel. The Institution grew substantially to support defense-related research during World War II and later began a steady growth in staff, research fleet, and scientific stature, making seminal discoveries about the ocean as the largest independent oceanographic research institution in the US. Its fame among the lay public was enhanced in 1985 when, in association with the Institut français de recherche pour l'exploitation de la mer (IFREMER, French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea), it identified the location of the wreck of the “RMS Titanic,” which sank off the coast of Newfoundland in 1912. The Sea Education Association was founded in 1971; until 1975 it was operated from headquarters in Boston and Chicago but was then based in Woods Hole. Students can take semester-long courses aboard its two ships, which ply the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
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