Committee on the oceanography of the Pacific

Abstract

Since the Committee on the Oceanography of the Pacific is one of the committees established by the Pacific Science Association, it is pertinent to state briefly the origin and purpose of the Association. Scientific men have long recognized the need for the establishment of some kind of medium through which co‐operative or co‐ordinated effort in the investigation of the many scientific problems presented by the Pacific region might be effected. The preparation of programs of research began years ago, and more recently there have been special discussions of the problems of the Pacific at the meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in Australia in 1914, before the annual meeting of our National Academy of Sciences in 1916, and at the Semi‐Centenary of the University of California in 1918. Our National Academy and National Research Council appointed a Committee on Pacific Investigations and the activity of its members resulted in the First Pan‐Pacific Science Congress in Honolulu in 1920. The Second Congress was held in Australia in 1923, and at the Third Congress, in Japan in 1926, definite organization of the Pacific Science Association was accomplished. Henceforth the Pacific Science Congresses will be held by the Pacific Science Association, which is primarily an association of the National Research Councils or equivalent bodies of the countries of the Pacific region.