Scripps Institution of Oceanography, 2011

The Scripps Institution of Oceanography (sometimes referred to as SIO, Scripps Oceanography, or Scripps) in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United Stat ...

, US founded in 1903, is one of the oldest and largest centers for

ocean The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the wo ...

and Earth science

research Research is " creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness ...

, public service, undergraduate and graduate training in the world. Hundreds of ocean and Earth scientists conduct research with the aid of oceanographic

research vessel A research vessel (RV or R/V) is a ship or boat designed, modified, or equipped to carry out research at sea. Research vessels carry out a number of roles. Some of these roles can be combined into a single vessel but others require a dedicated ...

s and shorebased laboratories. Its

Old Scripps Building The Old Scripps Building is a historic research facility on the campus of the University of California, San Diego in La Jolla, California. Built in 1909-10, is the oldest oceanographic research building in continuous use in the United States, and ...

is a U.S.

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

. SIO is a division of the

University of California San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego is th ...

(UCSD). The public explorations center of the institution is the

Birch Aquarium Birch Aquarium at Scripps (sometimes referred to as Scripps Aquarium or Birch Aquarium) is an aquarium and the public outreach center for Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. Accredited by the Association ...

at Scripps. Since becoming part of the University of California in 1912, the institution has expanded its scope to include studies of the physics, chemistry, geology, biology, and climate of Earth. Margaret Leinen took office as Vice Chancellor for Marine Sciences, Director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and Dean of the Graduate School of Marine Sciences on October 1, 2013. Scripps publishe
''explorations now''
an e-magazine of ocean and earth science.

History

Scripps Institution of Oceanography was founded in 1903 as the Marine Biological Association of San Diego, an independent biological research laboratory. It was proposed and incorporated by a committee of the San Diego Chamber of Commerce, led by local activist and amateur

malacologist Malacology is the branch of invertebrate zoology that deals with the study of the Mollusca (mollusks or molluscs), the second-largest phylum of animals in terms of described species after the arthropods. Mollusks include snails and slugs, clams, ...

Fred Baker, together with two colleagues. He recruited

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Franci ...

Zoology Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and ...

professor

William Emerson Ritter William Emerson Ritter (November 21, 1856 – January 10, 1944) was an American biologist. Ritter initiated and shaped the Marine Biological Association of San Diego (now Scripps Institution of Oceanography of UC San Diego) and the American ...

to head up the proposed marine biology institution, and obtained financial support from local philanthropists E. W. Scripps and his sister

Ellen Browning Scripps Ellen Browning Scripps (October 18, 1836 – August 3, 1932) was an American journalist and philanthropist who was the founding donor of several major institutions in Southern California. She and her half-brother E. W. Scripps created the E. W. ...

. They fully funded the institution for its first decade. It began institutional life in the boathouse of the

Hotel del Coronado Hotel del Coronado, also known as The Del and Hotel Del, is a historic beachfront hotel in the city of Coronado, just across the San Diego Bay from San Diego, California. A rare surviving example of an American architectural genre—the wooden ...

located on San Diego Bay. It re-located in 1905 to the La Jolla area on the head above La Jolla Cove, and finally in 1907 to its present location. In 1912 Scripps became incorporated into the

and was renamed the "Scripps Institution for Biological Research." Since 1916, measurements have been taken daily at its pier. The name was changed to Scripps Institution of Oceanography in October 1925.Scripps history
During the 1960s, led by Scripps Institution of Oceanography director Roger Revelle, it formed the nucleus for the creation of the University of California, San Diego on a bluff overlooking Scripps Institution. The

, designed by

Irving Gill Irving John Gill (April 26, 1870 – October 7, 1936), was an American architect. He did most of his work in Southern California, especially in San Diego and Los Angeles. He is considered a pioneer of the modern movement in architecture. Twelve ...

, was declared a

in 1982. and Architect

Barton Myers Barton Myers (born November 6, 1934) is an American architect and president of Barton Myers Associates Inc. in Santa Barbara, California. With a career spanning more than 40 years, Myers is a fellow of the American Institute of Architects and w ...

designed the current Scripps Building for the Institution of Oceanography in 1998.

Research programs

The institution's research programs encompass biological, physical, chemical, geological, and geophysical studies of the oceans and land. Scripps also studies the interaction of the oceans with both the atmospheric

climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorologi ...

and environmental concerns on ''terra firma.'' Related to this research, Scripps offers undergraduate and graduate degrees. Today, the Scripps staff of 1,300 includes approximately 235 faculty, 180 other scientists and some 350

graduate students Postgraduate or graduate education refers to academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachelor's) degree. The organization and str ...

, with an annual budget of more than $281 million.The institution operates a fleet of four

oceanographic Oceanography (), also known as oceanology and ocean science, is the scientific study of the oceans. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of topics, including ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents, waves, and geophysical fluid dynamic ...

s. The Integrated Research Themes encompassing the work done by Scripps researchers are Biodiversity and Conservation, California Environment, Earth and Planetary Chemistry, Earth Through Space and Time, Energy and the Environment, Environment and Human Health, Global Change, Global Environmental Monitoring, Hazards, Ice and Climate, Instruments and Innovation, Interfaces, Marine Life, Modeling Theory and Computing, Sound and Light and the Sea, and Waves and Circulation.

Organizational structure

Scripps Oceanography is divided into three research sections, each with its own subdivisions: * Biology *
Center for Marine Biotechnology & Biomedicine (CMBB)
*
Integrative Oceanography Division (IOD)
*
Marine Biology Research Division (MBRD)
* Earth *
Cecil H. and Ida M. Green Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics (IGPP)
*
Geosciences Research Division (GRD)
* Oceans & Atmosphere *
Climate, Atmospheric Science & Physical Oceanography (CASPO)
*
Marine Physical Laboratory (MPL)

California Sea Grant

On October 25, 1973, ''California Sea Grant'' became a college (

National Sea Grant College Program The National Sea Grant College Program is a program of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) within the U.S. Department of Commerce. It is a national network of 34 university-based Sea Grant programs involved in scientific r ...

) administered by Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego is t ...

Research vessels

Scripps owns and operates several

s and platforms: * RV ''Roger Revelle'' * RV ''Sally Ride'' * RV ''Robert Gordon Sproul'' * RP ''Flip'' * RV ''Bob and Betty Beyster'' ;Current and previous vessels larger than * 1906–???? – RV ''Loma'' * 1907–1917 – RV ''Alexander Agassiz'' * 1918–1918 – RV ''Ellen Browning'' * 1925–1936 – RV ''Scripps'' * 1937–1955 – RV ''E. W. Scripps'' * 1955–1965 – RV ''Stranger'' (Operated as USS ''Jasper'' from 1941 to 1947 for the UC Division of War Research) * 1947–1956 – RV ''Crest'' * 1947–1969 – RV ''Horizon'' * 1948–1965 – RV ''Paolina-T'' * 1951–1965 – RV ''Spencer F.Baird'' * 1955–1969 – T-441 * 1956–1962 – RV ''Orca'' * 1959–1963 – RV ''Hugh M. Smith'' * 1959–1970 – RV ''Argo'' (Official Navy name was Snatch) * 1962–1976 – RV ''Alexander Agassiz'' * 1962–present – RP ''FLIP'' * 1962–1974 – RV ''Oconostota'' (The ''Oconostota'' was known as "The Rolling O" because of its unpleasant motion.) * 1965–1980 – RV ''Alpha Helix'' (Transferred to University of Alaska, Fairbanks in 1980 (UAF sold vessel in 2007 to Stabbert Maritime) * 1965–???? – RV ''Ellen B. Scripps'' * 1966–1992 – RV ''Thomas Washington'' (Transferred to Chile and renamed ''Vidal Gormaz'') * 1969–2014 – RV ''Melville'' * 1973–???? – RV ''Gianna'' * 1978–2015 – RV ''New Horizon'' * 1984–present – RV ''Robert Gordon Sproul'' * 1995–present – RV ''Roger Revelle'' * 2016–present – RV ''Sally Ride'' * 2019-present - RV ''Bob and Betty Beyster''

Birch Aquarium at Scripps

Birch Aquarium at Scripps, the public exploration center for the institution, features a Hall of Fishes with more than 60 tanks of Pacific fishes and invertebrates from the cold waters of the Pacific Northwest to the tropical waters of Mexico and the IndoPacific, a 13,000-gallon local shark and ray exhibit, interactive tide pools, and interactive science exhibits.

Notable faculty members (past and present)

* Farooq Azam *

George Backus George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presid ...

Ernest Baldwin Ernest Hubert Francis Baldwin (29 March 1909 – 7 December 1969) was an English biochemist, textbook author and pioneer in the field of comparative biochemistry. Born in Gloucester, Baldwin attended the Crypt Grammar School followed by S ...

* Andrew Benson *

Hugh Bradner Hugh Bradner (November 5, 1915 – May 5, 2008) was an American physicist at the University of California who is credited with inventing the neoprene wetsuit, which helped to revolutionize scuba diving and surfing. A graduate of Ohio's Miami Un ...

* Edward Brinton *

Theodore Holmes Bullock Theodore Holmes Bullock (16 May 1915 – 20 December 2005) is one of the founding fathers of neuroethology. During a career spanning nearly seven decades, this American academic was esteemed both as a pioneering and influential neuroscientist, exami ...

* Ralph J. Cicerone * Robert W. Corell * Harmon Craig * Paul J. Crutzen * Russ E. Davis * Paul K. Dayton * Edward DeLong * Robert S. Dietz * Seibert Q. Duntley * Carl Eckart * Jim T. Enright *

David Epel David Epel is a researcher at Hopkins Marine Station in Pacific Grove, California, and a Professor (Emeritus) in the Department of Biology at Stanford University. Epel earned his Ph.D. at University of California Berkeley under Daniel Mazia. He a ...

* Edward A. Frieman * Robert Garrels * Freeman Gilbert * Edward D. Goldberg *

Klaus Hasselmann Klaus Ferdinand Hasselmann (, born 25 October 1931) is a German oceanographer and climate modeller. He is Professor Emeritus at the University of Hamburg and former Director of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology. He was awarded the 2021 ...

* Joel Hedgpeth * Walter Heiligenberg * Myrl C. Hendershott * Sam Hinton * Carl Hubbs * Douglas Inman * John Dove Isaacs *

Jeremy Jackson Jeremy Dunn Jackson (born October 16, 1980) is an American actor and singer. He is best known for his role as Hobie Buchannon on the television show ''Baywatch''. Career Television Jackson appeared in 159 episodes of the TV series ''Baywatch' ...

Martin W. Johnson Martin Wiggo Johnson (September 30, 1893 – November 28, 1984), was an American oceanographer at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. He is known as an author of the landmark reference work ''The Oceans: Their Physics, Chemistry and General B ...

* Thomas H. Jordan * Miriam Kastner *

Charles David Keeling Charles David Keeling (April 20, 1928 – June 20, 2005) was an American scientist whose recording of carbon dioxide at the Mauna Loa Observatory confirmed Svante Arrhenius's proposition (1896) of the possibility of anthropogenic contribution to ...

* Ralph Keeling * Charles Kennel * Nancy Knowlton * Lisa Levin * Ralph A. Lewin *

Michael S. Longuet-Higgins Michael Selwyn Longuet-Higgins FRS (8 December 1925 – 26 February 2016) was a mathematician and oceanographer at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics (DAMTP), Cambridge University, England and Institute for Nonline ...

* Edwin P. Martz * Wallace K. (Ken) Melville *

Henry William Menard Henry William Menard (December 10, 1920 – February 9, 1986) was an American geologist. Life and career He earned a B.S. and M.S. from the California Institute of Technology in 1942 and 1947, having served in the South Pacific during World War ...

* Mario J. Molina * John W. Miles * B. Greg Mitchell *

Judith Munk Judith Munk (April 10, 1925 – May 19, 2006) was an American artist and designer associated with Scripps Institution of Oceanography. She was inducted into the San Diego Women's Hall of Fame posthumously, in 2008. Early life and education Ju ...

* Walter Munk * Jerome Namias * William Nierenberg * Pearn P. Niiler * Stewart Nozette *

Veerabhadran Ramanathan Veerabhadran "Ram" Ramanathan (born 24 November 1944) is Edward A. Frieman Endowed Presidential Chair in Climate Sustainability Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego. He has contributed to many areas of the a ...

* Roger Revelle *

Dean Roemmich Dean Roemmich ( ) is a contemporary American physical oceanographer. Roemmich was the early leader behind the sensors array Argo which continuously and globally measures vertical profiles of oceanic conditions, chiefly temperature and salinity. ...

* Richard Heinrich Rosenblatt * Enric Sala * Rick Salmon *

Hans Suess Hans Eduard Suess (December 16, 1909 – September 20, 1993) was an Austrian born American physical chemist and nuclear physicist. He was a grandson of the Austrian geologist Eduard Suess. Career Suess earned his Ph.D. in chemistry from the U ...

* Francis Parker Shepard * Cornelius Cole Smith, Jr. * Richard Somerville * Fred Spiess * Janet Sprintall * George Sugihara * Harald Sverdrup * Lynne Talley * Warren White * Klaus Wyrtki * Victor Vacquier Sr. and son * Benjamin Elazari Volcani * Lihini Aluwihare

Notable alumni

Tanya Atwater Tanya Atwater (born 1942) is an American geophysicist and marine geologist who specializes in plate tectonics. She is particularly renowned for her early research on the plate tectonic history of western North America. Early life and education At ...

* Thomas E. Bowman III * Edward Brinton * Stephen E. Calvert * Kim Cobb *

Jack Corliss John B. ("Jack") Corliss is a scientist who has worked in the fields of geology, oceanography, and the origins of life. Corliss is a University of California, San Diego Alumnus, receiving his PhD from Scripps Institution of Oceanography in the ...

* John M. Edmond * Kenneth Farley * Michael Freilich *

Susan M. Gaines Susan M Gaines is an American writer. She is the author of the novels ''Accidentals'' (2020) and '' Carbon Dreams'' (2001), and co-author with Geoffrey Eglinton and Jurgen Rullkötter of the science book '' Echoes of Life: What Fossil Molecules ...

* Timothy Gallaudet *

Eric Giddens Eric M. Giddens (born 8 May 1973 in Atlanta) is an American slalom kayaker who competed from the early 1990s to the early 2000s. Career Giddens finished 20th in the men's K1 slalom event at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Giddens has been ...

Susan Hough Susan Elizabeth Hough (born March 20, 1961) is a seismologist at the United States Geological Survey in Pasadena, California, and scientist in charge of the office. She has served as an editor and contributor for many journals and is a contribu ...

Ancel Keys Ancel Benjamin Keys (January 26, 1904 – November 20, 2004) was an American physiologist who studied the influence of diet on health. In particular, he hypothesized that replacing dietary saturated fat with polyunsaturated fat reduces card ...

* Megan McArthur * James J. McCarthy *

Marcia McNutt Marcia Kemper McNutt (born February 19, 1952) is an American geophysicist and the 22nd president of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) of the United States. Previously, she served as editor-in-chief of the peer-reviewed journal ''Science'' fro ...

* Jessica Meir * Walter Munk * Wheeler J. North * Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara *

Colm Ó hEocha Colm Ó hEocha (; 19 September 1926 – 19 May 1997) was an Irish scientist and educationalist, who served as president of University College Galway and Chairman of the New Ireland Forum. Ó hEocha was born in Dungarvan, County Waterford, in 192 ...

* Joseph R. Pawlik * George Perry * S. K. Satheesh *

Brinke Stevens Brinke Stevens (born Charlene Elizabeth Brinkman, September 20, 1954) is an American actress, model, and writer. A native of San Diego, Stevens initially pursued a career as a marine biologist prior to becoming an actress, earning an undergrad ...

* Christopher Stott * Brian Tucker

Popular culture

In 2014, the institution and its Keeling Curve measurement of atmospheric carbon dioxide levels were featured as a plot point in an episode of HBO's ''The Newsroom''. In 2008, Scripps Institution of Oceanography was the subject of a category on the TV game show ''

Jeopardy! ''Jeopardy!'' is an American game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead given gene ...

''. Scripps has been a story element in numerous fictional works.

References

External links

Scripps Institution of Oceanography''explorations'' E-MagazineSupport ScrippsBirch Aquarium at Scripps"How Scripps Institution Came To San Diego", ''The Journal of San Diego History'' 27:3 (Summer 1981) by Elizabeth N. ShorScripps Institution of Oceanography digital collection on HathiTrust Digital Library
{{Authority control Oceanographic organizations University of California, San Diego La Jolla, San Diego Organizations based in San Diego Universities and colleges in San Diego National Register of Historic Places in San Diego Scripps family Barton Myers buildings 1903 establishments in California