80 MARINE SCIENCE 



STATEMENT OF HARRISON SCOTT BROWN, DIVISION OF GEOLOGI- 

 CAL SCIENCES, CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 



Dr. Brown. As j'ou have mentioned, my name is Harrison Brown 

 and I am professor of geochemistry at the California Institute of 

 Technology and Chairman of the Committee on Oceanography of the 

 National Academy of Sciences. 



I am very grateful to the Interstate and Foreign Commerce Com- 

 mittee for the opportunity of appearing before it for the purpose of 

 commenting on bill S. 2692. 



I should like to stress at the outset that the Committee on Oceanog- 

 raphy has worked verj^ hard since 1957 in an attempt first to attain a 

 realistic picture of the status of oceanography in the United States 

 and to prepare recommendations for remedial action. I am not my- 

 self an oceanographer by profession, although my own work has 

 bearing upon it. 



As a result, I believe that in helping to guide the committee's activ- 

 ities I have been able to make reasonablj^ impartial and objective 

 judgments. 



We found first of all that the situation with respect to oceanog- 

 raphy 



The Chairman. For the record, the committee now has studied — 

 the panels within your group have studied different phases of this 

 problem. 



Mr. Brown. That is correct. 



The Chairman. And you have released nine publications? There 

 are two or three in process, as I understand. 



Mr. Brown. Yes. 



The Chairman. '\^'liich will be released in the very near future. 



Mr. Brown. Yes. There will be 12 all together. 



The Chairman. They constitute the nature of what I have in my 

 hand here? 



Mr. Brown. Yes. 



The Chairman. In your report of the Committee on Oceanography 

 you have made a summary of recommendations. 



Mr. Brown. The first chapter consists of a general summary of all 

 the recommendations which we have made, yes. 



The Chairman. "\^niich, of course, bears directly upon the legisla- 

 tion before us. 



Mr. Brown. That is correct. 



First, concerning the situation which we found, we found it to be 

 very critical indeed and in our opinion urgent. 



Let me give one concrete example: We are all very proud of the 

 achievements of the three young men who were here yesterday who 

 went down in the bathyscaph to the very bottom of the ocean. I 

 believe our self-praise, certainly our national praise should be tem- 

 pered, however, by the realization that the bathyscaph was not con- 

 ceived in the United States, it was conceived in Europe; it was not 

 built in the TTnited States, it was built in Europe, it was not piloted 

 by an American but by a Swiss national. This does not detract from 

 the wonderful scientific achievements nor does it detract from the bold- 

 ness of the operation, nor from the imagination of the Navy in car- 

 rying out the negotiations. 



