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WHOI and World War II

June 10, 2017

Al Woodcock (left) and an unidentified colleague test a device used to study the effectiveness of smoke screens to protect troops during beach landings in World War II. Woodcock was a high school dropout who joined WHOI in 1931 and became a scientist who wrote pioneering studies on marine life and the role sea salt particles in forming fog and rain. WHOI scientists contributed to the war effort with projects that advanced understanding of underwater sound, currents and waves, and antifouling paints that prevented marine life from growing on ship hulls. WHOI scientists also studied the impacts of postwar nuclear weapons testing at Bikini Atoll. (Photo courtesy of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Archives)