Brief History Of Oceanography

Ptolemy Makes a Map

150

The Greek Ptolemy compiled a map of the entire Roman World that showed latitudes and longitudes. Know as the father of latitute/longitude, Ptolemy revolutionized the way that maps were made and interpreted (in terms of how to locate areas etc.).

De Temporum Ratione

Mar 1, 673

The English monk Bede published these writings, in which he discussed the lunar control of the tides and recognized monthly tidal variations and the effect of wind drag on tidal height. The concept of Tidal force was introduced in his writings, and although gravity wasn't known back then, Bede accurately described the relationship of the moon and Earhh's oceans.

Leonardo da Vinci

Mar 1, 1452

Leonardo da Vinci observed, recorded, and interpreted details about currents and waves and noted that fossile in the mountains of Italy implied that the level of the sea had been higher in the ancient past. Credited as one of the greatest human thinker ever, da Vinci studied currents, and deduced important information about the history of the ocean.

Magellan's Wondrous Voyage

Mar 1, 1519

Ferdinand Magellan embarked ona circumnavigation of the glove. Unfortunately, he was killed in battle and cannibalized (probably). Sebastian del Cano completed the voyage, along with several other crew members.

Robert Boyle

Mar 1, 1674

Robery Robyle investigated the relation among temperature, salinity, and pressure with depth and reported his findings in "Observations and Experiments on the Saltiness of the Sea." Robyle essentially extracted crucial obersvations in much the same way that we did in class with the golf ball in the water... hundreds of years earlier.

Euler's Calculatios

Mar 1, 1740

Leonhard Euler calculated the magnitude of the forces that generate ocean tides and related them to the attractive force of the Moon.

Chart of the Gulf Stream

Mar 1, 1769

Benjamin Franklin published the first ocean chart of the Gulf Stream, which shippers consulted extensively as they crossed the North Atlantic Ocean. The Gulf Stream makes ship voyages from American to Britain faster than the other way around.

New American Practical Navigator

Mar 1, 1802

Nathaniel Bowditch published the New American Practical Navigator, a superb navigational resource that continues to be revised and published to this day. Bowditch's publication provided sailor's with the ability to navigate with relative ease.

Darwin and the Beagle

Mar 1, 1831

The epic journed of Charles Darwin aboard the HMS Beagle led to a theory of atoll formation and later to the theory of organic evolution by natural selection. Darwin deduced many of his ideas about evolution by studying the ocean, and how it may have affected/altered the develoopment of species.

HMS Challenger and Charles Thomson

Mar 1, 1872

Underthe leadership of Charles Thomson, the HMS Challenger conducted worldwide scientific expeditions, collecting data and speciments that were later analyzed in over fifty large volumes of the Challenger Reports.

Fridtjof Nansen and the Fram

Mar 1, 1893

The Norwegian Fridtjof Nansen has the Fram constructed with a reinforced hull for use in sea ice; he confirmed the general circulation patter of the Arctic Ocean and the absence of a northern continent. Nansen led the voyage, and suffered no casualties.

Continental Drift

Mar 1, 1912

The German meteorologist Alfred Wegener proposed his theory of continental drift. Wagener was also interested in weather patters in Greenland, and he ended up dying there when he was 50. Wagener thought that all of the continents fit together like a puzzle.

IDOE

Mar 1, 1970

The United Nations initiated the International Decade of Ocean Exploration to improve our scientific knowledge of all aspects of the oceans.

CORES

Mar 1, 1980

The Coordinated Ocean Reasearch and Exploration Section program was organized to continue the scientific work of the IDOE into the 1980s. The Ocean Drilling Program continues the geological exploration of the oceans. These programs continue to explor the oceans, and delve deeper and deeper into the unfolding mysteries that the water contains.

YOTO (The Motto)

Mar 1, 1998

International Year of the Ocean is organized to educate the public about the value and importance of the ocean's resources. This date is important because it celebrates the important of the ocean, which is often times overlooked.

Egyptian Ingenuity

Dec 31, 4000

Egyptians developed the arts of shipbuilding and coastal piloting. Egyptians developed a means of transportation along the water way before any other civilization. Trade, and exploration ensued when boats became popular.