40 ADVANCEMENT OF MARINE SCIENCES 



The committee is small because the number of marine scientists in 

 Government agencies is small, and it is completely unofficial. The 

 committee has no constitution, no bylaws, no officers, no dues, no 

 treasury, or fund for expenses. 



Once a month a member arranges to borrow a room in the agency 

 in which he is employed, and usually presides over that particular 

 meeting. The chairmanship rotates. As civil service employees and 

 usually at the top of their classification, the members of this unofficial 

 committee have had no hope of personal gain from their endeavors, 

 but they have hoped and do hope to be able, with better facilities, to 

 perform more and better research. 



At the early meetings, as today, the scientists on the coordinating 

 committee exchanged information on the activities, accomplishments, 

 and programs of their respective agencies, and following these meetings 

 reported this information back to their superiors in their respective 

 agencies. 



Neither the members of the so-called coordinating committee nor 

 the group as a whole had any authority or power to coordinate any 

 activities or programs; nor did their superiors. Perhaps the major 

 accomplishment of the committee was to convince administrative 

 officials of the various agencies of the need for a coordinated program. 



In 1957, several Government agencies, aware that to achieve such 

 a program would require an overall study conducted by an inde- 

 pendent and objective non-Government scientific group, proposed 

 that the National Academy of Sciences— National Resources Council 

 create a Committee on Oceanography to undertake this major project. 

 This was done. 



Formal support, financial and otherwise, was given to the Com- 

 mittee on Oceanography, members of which were appointed by the 

 National Academy of Sciences, by the following agencies: 

 Office of Naval Research, Department of the Navy, 

 Atomic Energy Commission. 

 Bm-eau of Commercial Fisheries. 

 National Science Foundation. 



Subsequently the Coast and Geodetic Survey of the Department 

 of Commerce also participated in the sponsorship. 



Dr. Harrison Brown, professor of geochemistry at the CaUfornia 

 Institute of Technology and formerly w4th Johns Hopkins University, 

 Baltimore, and the University of Chicago, was appointed chairman. 



Eminent marine scientists from seven universities and oceano- 

 graphic institutions affiliated with universities were named to the 

 committee. New England, the Middle and South Atlantic States, 

 the Midwest and Pacific coast each were represented. A former 

 Commissioner of Atomic Energy, Mr. Sumner Pike, of Lubec, Maine, 

 also was appointed to the committee. 



All of the members are civilians. None are employed by the 

 Government. None were selected for membership on the committee 

 by any Government agency. The committee and each of its mem- 

 bers possessed — and continue to possess — complete freedom to make 

 a comprehensive study and report. 



Committee members are: Dr. Maurice Ewing, Lamont Geological 

 Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, N.Y.; Dr. Columbus 



