The Rise of Dynamical Oceanography—A Fragmentary Historical Note: The Stommel-Munk Correspondence, 1947–1953

Abstract

Two of the dominating figures of twentieth century physical oceanography/geophysics were Henry (Hank) Stommel and Walter Munk, whose early correspondence is discussed here. Stommel worked on the East Coast at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Harvard University from 1944 to 1992, when he died at age 71. Munk’s career was based on the West Coast at Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO), University of California San Diego, from 1941 until his death at age 101 in 2019. Both were well recognized during their lifetimes, and a number of descriptions of their lives and works are listed in a bibliography at the end of this note. An intended centenary observation for Stommel was planned for September 2020 but was postponed because of the pandemic. Anyone fortunate enough to have known these two oceanographers would have recognized the remarkable differences in their personalities and lives.

In the process of attempting to document the scientific achievements of these men, an exchange of letters between them in the period onward from 1947 came to light in the UC San Diego (UCSD) Library’s Special Collections & Archives (see Acknowledgments). Reading through the available correspondence (with inevitable evidence of gaps), one is struck by the great cordiality, collegiality, and clear evidence of their enjoyment of each other’s company; their mutual interests in dynamical oceanography and its biological implications; and the great diversity of scientific problems in which they had a joint interest.