OCEANOGRAPHY 35 



There is an additional problem in training people. Oceanogi'aphy 

 is a peculiar field, Mr. Oliver, in that it is not a science. It is a group 

 of sciences and technologies. It is not physics or chemistry or biology. 

 It is a peculiar inter\Yeave of basic disciplines. We must interest 

 young people in going into oceanography because without the people 

 the ships are useless, 



Mr. Olh-er. May I interject right there that this is something that 

 I was going to bring up in my rather inadequate way as my next 

 question that I wanted to pose to you : From the standpoint of educa- 

 tional training, I assume from what you have said here that it is the 

 feeling that enough stress is being placed upon the training of grad- 

 uate students and applicants for doctorates, and so forth. 



Mr. Wakelix. We feel that it is going along at a good rate. 



Mr. OLnTR. The thing that I have been interested in myself, and 

 I do not know whether it has been given consideration by your group, 

 is what about the fact that we apparently have to have increasing num- 

 bers of people to handle instrumentation aboard ship ? This does not 

 take anybody who has a Ph. D. degree, does it? Is there anything 

 being done as far as what you might call apprenticeship is con- 

 cerned? I do not know whether that is the term to use but I was 

 thinking of it in terms of perhaps people on merchant marine ships or 

 people on fishing vessels or whatnot. It has to be reliable data. 



I understand that, but is it not perfectly possible to have some kind 

 of a program where technicians to do, what we might call the legwork 

 is concerned, can be trained? Has there been any consideration as 

 far as the Inter- Agency Committee is concerned along that line? 



Mr. Wakelin. Yes; tliere has been, yiv. Oliver. There are train- 

 ing programs at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, at the La- 

 mont Geological Observatory in Columbia, and at the Scripps Insti- 

 tution of Oceanography of the University of California, among 

 others, who are taking students, sometimes seniors in high school but 

 preferably sophomores and juniors in college, and giving them sum- 

 mer training at all kinds of jobs either ashore or on oceanograpliic 

 ships. They are taking as many as they have facilities for now. 



We were talking about the Woods Hole people about 3 or 4 weeks 

 ago. They have three or four times the applications than they have 

 room for on ships or shore facilities. There is an interest by the 

 young people in oceanography but there is still a lack of facilities 

 to take care of them. 



Mr. Oli^tr. I am going to take the op]jortunity to put l)efore you 

 the availability of facilities which could take care of many, m.any 

 students, perhaps, for this purpose of technical training and handling 

 instrumentation, and so forth, and whether or not this sort of train- 

 ing is going to be recognized so far as gi^ants are concerned to 

 finance their training. 



I expect that this may be already being done. Is that correct ? 



Mr. Wakelix. It is being done. 



Mr. Olrer. Is it your feeling that peihaps the volume of techni- 

 cians in this rather elementary training should be increased or do 

 you think we are going along fast enough on this score now ? 



Mr. Wakelix. I believe we are going along fast enough on the 

 technician level. 



Mr. Oles-er. In other words, do you not believe that we need to 

 expand this phase of the program ? 



