Henry Bryant Bigelow papers

Henry Bryant Bigelow (1879 - 1967) became the first Director of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in 1930 and held that position until 1939. In 1927, while Bigelow was Associate Professor of Zoology at Harvard University and Curator of Oceanography at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, he was asked to prepare a report for the Committee on Oceanography of the National Academy of Science. The report was published in 1931 under his name as a book entitled Oceanography; Its Scope, Problems and Economic Importance. It led to the establishment of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, incorporated on January 6, 1930, with a grant from the Rockefeller Institute of $2 million plus $50,000 per year for ten years.

Upon retiring as director in 1939, Bigelow was elected a member and President of the Board of Trustees. WHOI also founded the Henry Bryant Bigelow Chair in Oceanography in 1958. In 1960, recognizing his great service to the Institution, he was named Founder Chairman of the Board. He was also the first recipient of the Henry Bryant Bigelow Medal, an award established that year in his honor.

Henry Bryant Bigelow died on December 11, 1967.