Marine Biological Laboratory

▪ biological research organization

      independent international research and educational organization founded at Woods Hole, Massachusetts, U.S., in 1888. It was established by the Women's Educational Association of Boston, the Boston Society of Natural History, and other organizations and was modeled on the Naples Zoological Station (1872) in Italy. The laboratory's summer research program played a vital role in furthering American research and teaching in the biological sciences in the early 20th century. The program is still active, drawing about 1,000 students and researchers annually. The laboratory remains a leading centre for research in marine biology and supports both visiting scientists and a permanent staff of some 200 researchers, assistants, and other personnel.

      The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), an offshoot of the laboratory established in 1930, is maintained by a permanent staff of more than 850. WHOI has supported hundreds of research projects and activities, including studies of marine life, the chemical composition of oceans, global climate changes, and seafloor geology. Its facilities include floating laboratories and research vessels, and it has developed exploration devices such as the manned submersible Alvin, the remotely operated vehicle Jason, the robotic submersible ABE (an acronym for Autonomous Benthic Explorer), and the tethered submersible Argo. One of the institution's best-known achievements was the discovery (using the Argo) of the luxury liner Titanic in 1985; the following year Alvin and Jason were used for a detailed examination of the wreck. From a deployment base off the coast of Washington state, ABE mapped the magnetic fields of lava flows along the Juan de Fuca Ridge in 1995–96.

Additional Reading

Jane Maienschein, 100 Years Exploring Life, 1888–1988: The Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole (1989), is an institutional history. Philip J. Pauly, “Summer Resort and Scientific Discipline: Woods Hole and the Structure of American Biology, 1882–1925,” in Ronald Rainger, Keith R. Benson, and Jane Maienschein (eds.), The American Development of Biology (1988), pp. 121–150, discusses the laboratory's impact on early 20th-century American biology.

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