Chapter Vil: Marine Science and Technology 
Often referred to in tandem, marine science and 
technology are separate but closely-coupled proc- 
esses. Science provides the key to understanding the 
oceans and contributes, with engineering, to the 
development of technology. Technology is the key to 
expanded marine operations, and its elements are 
used in scientific investigations as well as in eco- 
nomic and other activities unrelated to science. 
Before World War II, U.S. marine science was 
largely the province of the universities. Through the 
1920s, the bulk of the marine research effort was 
carried out at a few small coastal laboratories used 
by university biologists and their students. Then, in the 
late 1920s, the National Academy of Sciences began 
calling attention to a research deficiency in ocean- 
ography. In 1930, the Rockefeller Foundation re- 
sponded with $6 million in grants for the construc- 
tion of oceanographic laboratory facilities. As a 
result, three major centers of ocean science were 
developed: the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, 
the Oceanographic Laboratories of the University of 
Washington, and Woods Hole Oceanographic Insti- 
tution. 
Until World War II, endowments, funds from 
foundations, and other private sources, as well as 
allocations from State university budgets, sustained 
the research of these three laboratories plus the 
oceanographic work of a few small biological sta- 
tions. The oceanographic activities of the Federal 
Government were, at that time, limited almost en- 
tirely to fisheries investigations and to surveys for 
mapping and charting. 
The character of U.S. science was drastically 
altered during World War II by the infusion of Fed- 
eral funds into scientific projects having military 
applications. When the wartime organization of sci- 
ence was disbanded, marine science and technology 
might have returned to the comparatively small-scale 
privately funded efforts of the prewar era had it 
not been for the initiation of a Navy program to pro- 
vide support for research and development in areas 
of Navy interest. The availability of this funding 
was responsible for continued rapid growth of the 
marine sciences in the postwar period. 
In the 1950s, Navy support of science, including 
the marine sciences, leveled off. From 1947 to 1957, 
the Navy increased its funding of basic research by 
50 percent, about the same percentage that the cost 
of support per scientist increased. Although additional 
support became available from the Atomic Energy 
Commission, the Department of the Interior’s Bureau 
of Commercial Fisheries, and the National Science 
Foundation, the growth rate of the marine sciences 
declined in the 1950s. 
In 1957, the International Geophysical Year and 
the launching of Sputnik I by the Soviet Union pro- 
vided a new impetus for U.S. science efforts, includ- 
ing those directed to understanding and making use 
of the oceans. In the decade that followed, Federal 
support of oceanography expanded rapidly. The 
major emphasis of these efforts, however, continued 
to be on research, both basic and applied, and on 
such supporting elements as instrument development 
and the construction and maintenance of ships and 
shore facilities. Surveys and other use-oriented serv- 
ices accounted for only 15 to 25 percent of the en- 
tire Federal ocean program at that time.’ After 1966, 
a number of services and engineering and technology 
activities, as well, were added to the Federal ocean 
agenda. Since 1970, additional ocean functions that 
emphasize management and conservation of ocean 
resources have been undertaken by the Federal 
Government. 
Trends in the National Scientific Effort 
The development of marine science and tech- 
nology must be considered in the context of the 
trends in U.S. science policy in general. Expenditures 
and obligations for the funding of science and engi- 
neering activities have commonly been used as indi- 
cators of national scientific commitment. It should be 
remembered, however, that they are measures of 
input rather than output, and as such are imperfect 
estimates of achievement. 
The National Science Foundation (NSF), how- 
ever, uses a series of useful indices that track the 
1 Interagency Committee on Oceanography of the Federal 
Council for Science and Technology. National Oceanographic 
Program for Fiscal Year 1962, and fiscal years through 1967. 1cO 
Pamphlet numbers 2, 3, 11, 15, 17, and 24. Washington, DIG: 
U.S. Navy, annually 1961-66. 
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