San Diego Treasures Series- The Scripps Institute of Oceanography

 

San Diego Treasures Series- The Scripps Institute of Oceanography

The Scripps Institute of Oceanography is a part of the University of California. The Institute has had a long  progressive history in San Diego. In 1903 The Scripps family made a donation to start a research station that lead to the generation of the San Diego Marine Biological Association.

A few years later the Scripps ( Newspaper mogul and Yachtsman E.W. Scripps and Ellen Browning Scripps) pledged operational funds and a yacht for research. In 1909 Ellen makes a bequeath in her will to the University of California for Marine Research. In 1912 The San Diego Marine Biological Association folds and deeds it property to the UC regents and the Scripps Institute for Biological Research is founded.

In 1925 the outpost was renamed to the Scripps Institute of Oceanography. The evolving history of Scripps Institute of Oceanography to present day included training military officers in WWII in meteorology and tide forecasting, to immediately after the war  of having a cooperative agreement with the new Office of Naval Research. The UC system would seize the talents of the scientists at Scripps and formed the Division of Naval War research, developing mine-detection technologies  and other types of technology for marine warfare.  

In 1950 the institute made its first trip into the depths of the Pacific Ocean. But that was just the beginning of deep sea research for the Institute and the official founding in 1960 of the University of San Diego campus. The Director of Scripps, Roger Revelle, a Scripps alumnus, would help establish the UCSD campus on the bluff overlooking the Institute. Revelle co-wrote an article that set to clearly identify and warn about the increase in carbon dioxide caused by burning fuels. This early and well researched article has greatly contributed to the beginning of our more recent discussions on global warming.

The history continues in 1965 when the SeaLab II, the manned underwater sea station operates for 45 days at 205 below the surface of the pacific.

In the late 70's, the Scripps Institute would receive it's first of a number of state funded vessels in the R/V New Horizon.

Ellen Browning Scripps provided the funds for the original wooden pier that would be replaced in 1987 by this new pier and it was dedicated in Ellen Browning Scripps name the Ellen Browning Scripps Memorial Pier as seen here. This pier was named in her honor as the most significant donor of the institute in the formative years of the Institute.

The public face of Scripps Institute of Oceanography and the wonderful research over the many decades took shape with the opening of the Scripps  Birch Aquarium in 1992 and the announcement that Scripps would offer the first undergraduate degree program in ocean science. The Birch Aquarium is the public exploration center for the Institute providing the public with educational living examples of its research while also promoting ocean conservation. The Birch Aquarium is also a San Diego Treasure itself and will appear here in ActiveRain as it's own upcoming post.

Scripps Institute of Oceanography is now one of the oldest and largest ocean and earth research centers in the world. Their research program is fully comprehensive in under-graduate and graduate studies of the biological,physical,geological and geophysical aspects of the the earth and the ocean. The Scripps Institute of Oceanography is a true Treasure of San Diego .

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