Scripps Institution of Oceanography

The Scripps Institution of Oceanography (sometimes referred to as SIO, Scripps Oceanography, or Scripps), located in San Diego, California, is one of the oldest and largest centers for ocean and Earth science research in the US. Originally founded in 1903, since becoming part of the University of California system in 1912, the institution has expanded its scope to include studies of the physics, chemistry, geology, biology, and climate of Earth. Scripps publishes explorations now, an e-magazine of ocean and earth science. Scripps Institution of Oceanography was founded in 1903 as the Marine Biological Association of San Diego, an independent biological research laboratory. It was proposed and incorporated by a committee of the San Diego Chamber of Commerce, led by local activist and amateur malacologist Fred Baker, together with two colleagues. He recruited University of California Zoology professor William Emerson Ritter to head up the proposed marine biology institution, and obtained financial support from local philanthropists E. W. Scripps and Ellen Browning Scripps. They fully funded the institution for its first decade. It began institutional life in the boathouse of the Hotel del Coronado located on San Diego Bay. It re-located in 1905 to the La Jolla area on the head above La Jolla Cove, and finally in 1907 to its present location. In 1912 Scripps became incorporated into the University of California and was renamed the "Scripps Institution for Biological Research." Since 1916, measurements have been taken daily at its pier. The name was changed to Scripps Institution of Oceanography in October 1925. During the 1960s, led by Scripps Institution of Oceanography director Roger Revelle, it formed the nucleus for the creation of the University of California, San Diego on a bluff overlooking Scripps Institution. The Old Scripps Building, designed by Irving Gill, was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1982. Architect Barton Myers designed the current Scripps Building for the Institution of Oceanography in 1998.