Richard H. Backus papers

Richard H. "Dick" Backus received his A.B. in Botany in 1946 from Dartmouth College. He had entered Dartmouth in 1940, but left after two years to serve in World War II as a First Lieutenant Aerial Navigator, U.S. Army Air Force. In 1948 Dick earned his M.S. in Vertebrate Zoology and his Ph.D. in Ichthyology in 1953, both from Cornell University. Dick joined the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in September 1952, as a Biology Research Associate in Dr. J. Brackett Hersey’s underwater sound group. He served as Research Associate until 1959 and as Marine Biologist until 1963, when he was appointed Senior Scientist. In 1963, the Institution re-organized its scientific departments by discipline, and Hersey’s underwater sound group became part of the Geophysics department. In 1967, Dick and the rest of his group transferred from Geophysics into Biology. He served as Chair of the Biology department from 1970-1974 and from 1986-1987.

During his tenure at Woods Hole Oceanograpic Institution, Dick was known as the local shark expert. He co-authored the 1970 book The Natural History of Sharks with Thomas H. Lineaweaver III. When the film Jaws was released in the United States in 1975, the Institution was inundated with calls from people curious about sharks. All calls were directed to Dick, who was also featured in People magazine and interviewed for newspapers, radio and TV programs that summer.

Since his retirement in 1988, Dick has retained Scientist Emeritus status at the Institution. He resides in Woods Hole with his wife, Denise Franklin Backus. They have five children.