A Tribute to Dr. Fred N. Spiess   E-mail     Print     PDF

The crowd gathered on the lawn outside the original Scripps building on October 20, 2006 in La Jolla spanned five generations of ocean scientists and engineers.  With a view of the Pacific under a brilliant blue southern California sky that turned crimson in the balmy late afternoon, family, friends, students, and colleagues from all over the U.S. gathered to remember Dr. Fred Noel Spiess, who died September 8, 2006 at age 86.

Fred played a significant role in my career and that of many others in our community. He was a pre-eminent ocean-scientist/engineer throughout the mid-late 20th century, continuing up until only a few months before his passing. His influence on the development of deep submergence technology and seafloor mapping was instrumental in allowing detailed, quantitative studies of the ocean floor to be done routinely.

Fred’s development of the DeepTow instrument in the 1960s, with his engineering group at Scripps’ Marine Physical Laboratory, paved the way for a myriad of sonar, navigation and vehicle design technologies that today form the backbone of deep ocean field studies. His keen interests in technology development for marine science are legend, and the students he mentored over the past 30 plus years have gone on to become leaders in the oceanographic and engineering sciences.

Although I was a technician at Scripps in the late 1960s and early 1970s, my involvement with Fred took place later, after I arrived at WHOI as the first Chief Scientist for Deep Submergence.  Fred served as a role model to many in his striving for excellence in technology and its service to further ocean science. I applied those lessons in my involvement with WHOI’s National Deep Submergence Facility and the vehicles it operates for the U.S. academic research community.

In representing WHOI at the memorial service, I recognized Fred’s long-standing contributions to deep submergence technology and science on behalf of the Institution.  To achieve great things we stand on the shoulders of giants like Dr. Fred N. Spiess. He will be greatly missed but never forgotten.

-Dan Fornari, Senior Scientist and Director of the Deep Ocean Exploration Institute

Related links:

Fred Spiess obituary from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography

Fred Spiess obituary in the L.A. Times

Fred Spiess obituary in the New York Times