Murray, Sir John

Murray, Sir John

▪ Canadian oceanographer
born March 3, 1841, Cobourg, Ontario, Canada
died March 16, 1914, near Kirkliston, West Lothian [now in Edinburgh], Scotland

      Scots naturalist and one of the founders of oceanography, whose particular interests were ocean basins, deep-sea deposits, and coral-reef formation.

      In 1868 Murray began collecting marine organisms and making a variety of oceanographic observations during an expedition to the Arctic islands of Jan Mayen and Spitsbergen, off Norway. Murray did much to organize the Challenger (Challenger Expedition) Expedition (1872–76), which made extremely valuable contributions in charting, surveying, and biological investigation, and he helped outfit it with equipment for conducting oceanographic studies. As a naturalist with the expedition, he was placed in charge of the biological specimens collected. Kept at Edinburgh, they attracted the attention of marine biologists from around the world for 20 years.

      After the death of the expedition's leader, Sir Wyville Thomson (1882), Murray completed the publication of the 50-volume Report on the Scientific Results of the Voyage of H.M.S. Challenger (1880–95). He also directed biological investigations of Scottish waters (1882–94), surveyed the depths of Scottish lakes (1906), and took part in a North Atlantic oceanographic expedition (1910). He was knighted in 1898. His writings include the paper “On the Structure and Origin of Coral Reefs and Islands” (1880) and, with Johan Hjort, The Depths of the Ocean (1912).

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • MURRAY, Sir John Hubert Plunkett (1861-1940) — administrator was born at Sydney on 29 December 1861. His father, Sir Terence Aubrey Murray (1810 73), son of Captain Terence Murray, a paymaster in the British army, was born at Limerick, Ireland, in 1810, came to Sydney in 1827, and worked for… …   Dictionary of Australian Biography

  • Murray, Sir John, Baronet — ▪ Scottish Jacobite born 1718 died December 6, 1777, Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, England       Scottish Jacobite, secretary to Prince Charles Edward (the Young Pretender) (Charles Edward, the Young Pretender) during the rebellion of 1745–46. He… …   Universalium

  • Sir John Murray, 8th Baronet — General Sir John Murray, 8th Baronet Murray of Dunerne, GCH (1768 1827) led a brigade under Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington in the Peninsular War. Later in the war, he commanded an independent force that operated on the east coast of… …   Wikipedia

  • Sir John Sulman Medal — Infobox award name = Sir John Sulman Medal imagesize = caption = current awards = description = Architectural merit presenter = Royal Australian Institute of Architects (NSW) country = Australia year = 1932 website =… …   Wikipedia

  • MURRAY, Sir George John Robert (1863-1942) — chief justice of South Australia was the son of Alexander Borthwick Murray, a pioneer sheep breeder, who sat in both the house of assembly and the legislative council of South Australia. He was born at Murray Park, Magill, near Adelaide, on 27… …   Dictionary of Australian Biography

  • Murray (surname) — Murray is a common variation of the word Moray, an anglicisation of the Medieval Gaelic word Muireb (or Moreb); the b here was pronounced as v, hence the Latinization to Moravia. These names denote the district on the south shore of the Moray… …   Wikipedia

  • John Murray (Ozeanograph) — John Murray Sir John Murray (* 3. März 1841 in Cobourg, Ontario, Kanada; † 16. März 1914 in Kirkliston, Edinburgh, Schottland) war ein Ozeanograph und Naturwissenschaftler …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Betjeman, Sir John — (1906 1984)    Broadcaster, television presenter and poet laureate known for writing about the recent past in such a way as to make it accessible and familiar. The only child of a London furniture manufacturer, he was educated at Marlborough… …   British and Irish poets

  • John Campbell, 9th Duke of Argyll — For other persons of the same name, see John Campbell (disambiguation) or Duke of Argyll. His Grace The Duke of Argyll KG, KT, GCMG, GCVO, PC …   Wikipedia

  • John Murray (publisher) — John Murray (1745–1793) was the founder of a British publishing house, renowned for the roster of authors it has published in its history, including Jane Austen, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Lord Byron, Charles Lyell, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”