163 



the preposterous. AJVISOC had been started in 1952 by two geophysi- 

 cists, staff members of the Office of Naval Research (ONR). Its orga- 

 nization was nonexistent, its purpose was entertainment, and its 

 membership casual. It was an unlikely, and possibly unfortunate, 

 choice of an organization to sponsor and promote a scientific 

 spectacular. 



The Mohole idea itself was voiced at a panel meeting of NSF to re- 

 view some 60 proposals for research projects in the earth sciences. Al- 

 though technically meritorious, the proposals were criticized as break- 

 ing no new ground. At the meeting, Walter Munk, of Scripps Insti- 

 tution of Oceanography, suggested that projects were needed that 

 would be "really f midamental to an miderstanding of the earth.'' More- 

 over, they needed to accomplish such other objectives as: to "arouse 

 the imagination of the public"* and "attract more young men into our 

 science." According to Harry H. Hess, chairman of the geology de- 

 partment of Princeton University, who was also present, Munk offered 

 as an example of such a project "* * * That we drill a hole through 

 the crust of the earth. I [Hess] took him up and said let's do it; let's 

 not drop it here, and we did go on.'" ^ Apparently it was Hess who sug- 

 gested that the idea be turned over to AMSOC to implement. In its 

 own casual and frivolous way, the American Miscellaneous Society 

 had become identified with such far out undertakings as bringing 

 Antarctic icebergs to Los Angeles to supplement the city water supply. 

 Despite the group's reputation for this kind of "thinkmg big," it had 

 respectable qualifications in the earth sciences. The NSF Panel meeting 

 was in March 1957. In April, Munk was host at his home in La JoUa, 

 Calif., to a meeting of AMSOC in which a more formal organizational 

 character was assumed in order to advance quite seriously the Mohole 

 concept. In due course, the group shed its nonconformist facetious- 

 ness,- obtained the sponsorship of the National Academy of Sciences, 

 applied for a $30,000 grant from NSF for a feasibility study and re- 

 ceived from NSF a grant of half that sum. At this point AMSOC took 

 on the full time services of Wiilard Bascom, as executive secretary 

 Bascom's enthusiasm and energy moved the project forward at a 

 more rapid pace. 



The original AMSOC proposal had been merely for the drilling of 

 a hole to Mohorovicic Discontinuity. In an article in Science maga- 

 zine, coauthored by Arthur Maxwell, of the staff of ONR, and Gordon 

 Lill, chairman of AMSOC and also on the ONR staff, the cost of the 

 achievement was estimated at not more than $5 million.* The follow- 

 ing month, AMSOC's executive committee proposed a budget of $14 

 million for the project. Earlier, in the April 1959 issue of Scientific 

 American, Bascom had defined his concept of the total project as con- 

 sisting of a preliminary teclinological development phase, a trial 

 drilling phase, a reassessment based on actual field trials, and then 



1 As quoted in : Daniel S. Greenberg. The Politics of Pure Science. (New York, New 

 American Library, 1967), p. 174. 



2 Reflected in its disciplinary subgroiiplngs, which have been described as "Etceterology, 

 Phenomenology, Calamitology, Generalology, and Triviology." (Ibid., p. 172.) 



* Bascom, a mining engineer and geologist had received his training (no degree) from 

 Colorado School of Mines, had been a research engineer in oceanography at the University 

 of California, joined the staff of the National Academy in 1954, and had been U.S. dele- 

 gate to the IGY Conference on Oceanography In Sweden. He was also serving as executive 

 secretary on two Academy committees — meteorology and maritime research. (Greenberg, 

 op. cit.. p. 178.) 



* G. G. Lill and A. E. Maxwell. The Earth's Mantle. Science (May 22. 1959, vol. 129. 

 No. 3360), pp. 1407-1410. 



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