- Geophysicist and university professor who, as research associate at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (1940-1945), perfected under-water communication techniques and pioneered the exploration of the ocean floors by seismic waves. Director of Columbia University's Lamont Doherty Geological Observatory (1949-1974), he discovered evidence supporting the theory of continental drift. Inventor and designer of the SOFAR ("Sound Fixing and Ranging") system, a sonic method for rescuing men lost at sea, and also of a camera that could take underwater pictures at a depth of more than three miles.
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