Sydney T. Knott papers
Scope and Content Note
The Sydney Knott papers consist of materials related to Knott's work and engineering activities at WHOI from 1950-1971. Materials in the papers include correspondence, meeting minutes, patent information, data, photographs, and computation books.
Dates
- 1950-1971
Language of Materials
The records are in
English.
Access
Open: materials are available for research.
Use
Copyright: Permission to publish material from the collection must be authorized by the Institution Archivist.
Biographical Information
Sydney T. "Bud" Knott, Jr., was a Research Specialist and Hydro-acoustics engineer in the WHOI Geology and Geophysics Department. Bud began employment at the Institution on May 6, 1946 on Dr. J.B. Hersey's project B-16. His undergraduate education began at Bowdoin and included Massachusett's Teacher's College, Tufts and Columbia. Following a four-year tour of duty as a Naval Officer serving on destroyers in the Pacific, he returned to Cape Cod to build boats together with his brother Dan.
Bud is considered by many to be the father of modern echo sounding at the Insitution, since he developed the Precision Graphic Recorder in the mid-fifties.
Bud participated (along with others from the Institution) in responding to the Navy's request for assistance in searching for the submarine Thresher , and with the use of PGRs and towed cameras the team photographed the first debris associated with the wreck. As a direct result of the Thresher search, in April of 1964, Paul N. Nitze, then Secretary of the Navy, awarded him the Navy Meritorious Public Service Citation for his valuable contributions to the Department of the Navy in the field of scientific investigation. This is one of the highest honors which the Navy can grant a civilian.
Taken from Knott's WHOI Obituary.
Extent
3 boxes (3 lin. ft.)
Overview
The Sydney Knott papers consist of materials related to Knott's work and engineering activities at WHOI from 1950-1971.
Custodial History
The papers had been in an office in the Bigelow Laboratory prior to their donation to the Archives.
Acquisitions Information
The Sydney T. Knott papers were received by the Data Library and Archives in September 1979.
Processing Information
First-level processing and folder listing completed by Rosemary Davis.
- Title
- A Guide to the Sydney T. Knott papers, 1950-1971
- Author
- David Sherman
- Date
- May 2009
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written inEnglish
Repository Details
Part of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Data Library and Archives Repository