PREFACE 



On April 27, 1927, the National Academy of Sciences adopted a resolution which 

 read as follows: 



THAT, "The President of the Academy be requested to appoint a Com- 

 mittee on Oceanography from the sections of the Academy concerned to 

 consider the share of the United States of America in a world wide program 

 of oceanographic research and report to the Academy." 



The President of the Academy, at that time Prof. A. A. Michelsen, accordingly 

 appointed Messrs. Wm. Bowie, E. G. Conklin, B. M. Duggar, John C. Merriam, T. Way- 

 land Vaughan, and Frank R. Lilhe (Chairman), as members of the Committee. Dr. 

 Henry B. Bigelow, Curator of Oceanography in the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 

 Harvard University, was engaged as Secretary. Subsequently the Committee's member- 

 ship was augmented by the appointment of Messrs. Bigelow and Arthur L. Day. When 

 Doctor LUlie became President of the Academy on July 1, 1935, Doctor Bigelow suc- 

 ceeded him as Chairman of the Committee. 



Working in conjunction with the members of the Committee and after conferences 

 with numerous persons and visits to oceanographic institutions, Doctor Bigelow prepared 

 a report entitled "Oceanography, its scope, problems, and economic importance," which 

 was pubhshed in 1931. 



As a result of the efforts of the Committee the Rockefeller Foundation provided 

 funds for the establishment of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Associated 

 with the establishment of that Institution an effort was made to expand and stabilize the 

 Bermuda Biological Station for Research. To this project the Rockefeller Foundation 

 contributed £50,000, on the understanding that the Bermuda Government would con- 

 tribute £5,500 and other benefits and in the expectation that the Bermuda Station would 

 serve as an oceanic station of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Further 

 information on this station is given in the last section of this report "Catalogue of institu- 

 tions engaged in oceanographic work." 



Besides the funds for oceanographic research above mentioned, the Rockefeller 

 Foundation made a liberal contribution to the University of Washington for the erection 

 of a laboratory buUding for oceanographic research and for the operation or purchase of 

 an oceanographic research boat. This led to the establishment of the oceanographic 

 laboratories of the University of Washington. Further information on these laboratories 

 is given in the catalogue of oceanographic institutions. 



In addition to the contributions above indicated, the Rockefeller Foundation allotted 

 $40,000 to assist in the erection of a second laboratory building, named Ritter Hall, on 

 the grounds of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of Cahfornia, La 

 Jolla, California. It was expected that further development would be taken care of by 

 the University of California in conjunction with the Scripps family. The execution of 

 the plan was interrupted by the great depression, but subsequently it has been put into 



