Alfred Redfield was a biologist and a founding member of WHOI.

For over 40 years, Redfield spent his summers in Woods Hole asking big questions about the ocean. Most notably, he realized that the ratios of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus in marine plankton mirror those found in seawater.

Now called the “Redfield Ratio,” this elegant equation revealed that ocean chemistry and ocean life aren't just related—they're inseparable. Redfield said it best, "Life in the sea cannot be understood without understanding the sea itself."

His legacy lives on at WHOI in more ways than one. The Redfield Laboratory, dedicated in his honor in 1971, is home to our biology department. True to form, Redfield kept working well into his later years, publishing his final scientific paper on the tides of New England and New York at age 89.