John Murray (oceanographer)

John Murray

Sir John Murray KCB, FRS, FRSE, FRSGS (3 March 1841 – 16 March 1914) was a Canadian-born British naturalist, oceanographer, marine biologist, and limnologist. Winner of numerous awards, he was president of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society from 1898 to 1904 and is sometimes called "the father of oceanography".

Quotes

• Darwin's Theory.–During the voyage of the “Beagle” and subsequently, Mr Darwin made a profound study of coral reefs, and has given a theory of their mode of formation which has since been universally accepted by scientific men.
  Darwin's theory may be said to rest on two facts—the one physiological, and the other physical—the former, that those species of corals whose skeletons chiefly make up reefs cannot live in depths greater than from 20 to 30 fathoms; the latter, that the surface of the earth is continually undergoing slow elevation or subsidence.
  • (1880) . "1. On the Structure and Origin of Coral Reefs and Islands.". Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 10 (107): 505–518. doi:10.1017/S0370164600044230

• When we cast a retrospective glance at the history of knowledge concerning our planet, we find that nearly all the great advances in geography took place among commercial—and in a very special manner among maritime—peoples. Whenever primitive races commenced to look upon the ocean, not as a terrible barrier separating lands, but rather as a means of communication between distant countries, they soon acquired increased wealth and power, and beheld the dawn of new ideas and great discoveries. Down even to our own day the power and progress of nations may, in a sense, be measured by the extent to which their seamen have been able to brave the many perils, and their learned men have been able to unravel the many riddles, of the great ocean. The history of civilisation runs parallel with the history of navigation in all its wider aspects.
  • (January 1894) "The Renewal of Antarctic Exploration". The Geographical Journal 3 (1): 1–27. (quote from p. 1; text at archive.org)

• The Challenger Expedition was organised by the British Government during the years 1871 and 1872 at the suggestion of the Royal Society. The ship was fitted out under the direction of Admiral G. H. Richards, at that time Hydrographer of the Admiralty, and she sailed from Sheerness in December 1872.
  The special object of the Expedition was the scientific exploration of the physical, chemical, geological, and biological conditions of the great ocean basins. In addition to a full complement of specially selected Naval Officers, the Expedition comprised a scientific staff of six civilians, under the direction of Professor C. Wyville Thomson.
  After circumnavigating the globe, and carrying on deep-sea and other investigations in many regions of the ocean, the Challenger returned to England in May 1876, and the crew was paid off after the ship had been in commission for over three years and seven months.
  • "Editorial Notes by Sir John Murray". A Summary of the Scientific Results Obtained at the Sounding, Dredging and Trawling Stations of HMS Challenger. Part 6, Volume 1. HM Stationery Office. 1895. pp. vii–xii.  (quote from p. vii)

Quotes about John Murray

• Murray's great opportunity came in 1872 when he was appointed to the staff of the ’’Challenger’’ Expedition, that famous expedition, organised in this city, which will probably be for all time recognised as the most important in the history of oceanic exploration. Murray played a large part in the preliminary organising and fitting out as well as in the conduct of the expedition. During the four years of the actual voyage he specialised particularly in the collection and study of pelagic organisms and deep-sea deposits, but his greatest work in this connection and the great work of his life was after the return of the expedition. Owing to the failing health of Sir Wyville Thomson the main share in organising the working out of the enormous collections fell very soon to Murray, and after Thomson's death in 1882 he became in name, as he already was in fact, responsible for this side of the work. For nineteen years Murray managed the most remarkable team of scientific workers which was probably ever brought into collaboration. Agassiz, Allman, Buchan, Buchanan, Bergh, Brooks, Carpenter, von Graff, Günther, Haddon, Haeckel, R. Hertwig, Harmer, Herdman, Huxley, Hubrecht, Kölliker, Moseley, M'Intosh, Pelseneer, W. K. Parker, Renard, Sars, Sollas, Schulze, Selenka, Sclater, Tait, Théel, Turner: all these, in addition to other and younger workers, contributed, and contributed of their best, to these wonderful fifty volumes which form not merely the foundation but a great part of the whole edifice of modern oceanography.
  • J. Graham Kerr, (1915) . "Obituary. Sir John Murray, KCB, LL. D., Ph. D., D. Sc., FRS, Knight of the Royal Prussian Order Pour le Mérite, Grand Cross of the Royal Norwegian Order of St Olav". Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 35: 305–317.

External links

• Encyclopedic article on John Murray (oceanographer) on Wikipedia
• wikisource:Author:John Murray (1841-1914)
• The Ocean: A General Account of the Science of the Sea by John Murray (1841 - 1914). LibriVox.