180 JL 100 YEARS EXPLORING LIFE, 188&-1988 



have always enjoyed visits to Nobska Lighthouse, run since 1939 by the Coast 

 Guard when it replaced the old Lighthouse Service. 



The MBL's relationship with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institu- 

 tion (WHOI) is the closest. In fact, WHOI is really the MBL's younger sibling. 

 It began when MBL director Lillie and Wickliffe Rose, president of the 

 General Education Board, decided that an east coast oceanographic re- 

 search center might be in order. The Pacific United States had its Scripps 

 Institution of Oceanography. Since it was not clear exactly what sort of 

 eastern establishment should be developed, the National Academy of Sci- 

 ences set up a study group. As a result of that group's report and subse- 

 quent developments, January 1930 brought the official incorporation of 

 Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. 



Why, Woods Hole people often ask today. Woods Hole is so crowded 

 already and as WHOI has expanded it has had to set up a second, separate 

 campus site, the Quissett Campus. Lillie reported that Woods Hole "which 

 had from the first been regai'ded as the most likely site, was definitely 

 selected, on account of its geographical advantages and the scientific good 

 will and co-operation assured there. " Also the existence of a library was a 

 major attraction. Lillie, as leader of the MBL and inspiration for WHOI, 

 clearly sought to keep both in Woods Hole. 



Lillie reported that the MBL Board of Trustees wanted to donate a 

 piece of land to WHOI in the first place. It later turned out that they legally 

 had to be paid for the gift, but that commitment nonetheless set the stage 

 for the two labs to be neighbors. Yet later, when the Oceanographic wanted 

 to expand and buy the MBL's Penzance Garage property, then-director 

 Philip Armstrong reported, the MBL did not agree. Experts and real estate 

 specialists from Washington came to assess the properties and concluded 

 that Woods Hole had "too little land" and "wouldn't develop a well- 

 integrated campus." The Navy took the property anyway by eminent do- 

 main, then released the land to WHOI. Such actions, given the very limited 

 amount of land and especially deep waterftont property, temporarily cre- 

 ated some hard feelings and stimulated a bit of sibling rivalry. Fortunately 

 any such feeling has largely dissipated. 



Some MBL old-timers felt tliat the Oceanographic had "sort of ruined 

 Woods Hole." It seemed so much more crowded than it had before, witli so 

 many autos and so many people. The smaller MBL has sometimes envied 

 the large endowment and the solid finjmcial basis of the grown-up little 

 brother. At other times it has been disdainful. The World War II "booms" 

 heard frequently off the shore broke windows and set people complaining. 

 Even if the experimental explosions were part of the war effort, why Ikm e in 

 Woods Hole? they asked. During World War II, WHOI thrived while the MBL 

 shrank. More recently, directors and staff have worked at building stronger 

 cooperation to (Mihance the whole Woods Hole scientific community. 



