John Dove Isaacs III
1913-1980
Biography

John Dove Isaacs was a Renaissance man – a world-renowned scientist, engineer, teacher, naturalist, fisherman, author, inventor, and Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) professor. He was described by his peers as a “giant of science” and was one of the first to approach oceanography as an interdisciplinary field of study. Isaacs was a creative genius, an “idea man” whose knowledge of the oceans was so broad he could see things that others could not and find solutions to problems that escaped others.

Born in Spokane in 1913, he received a bachelor of science degree in engineering from the University of California at Berkeley in 1944. Isaacs came to Scripps in 1948 as a professor of oceanography. In 1971, he was appointed director of the University of California’s Institute of Marine Resources (IMR), a position he held until his death in 1980. Under Isaacs’ direction, the IMR programs expanded significantly in size and scope.

His research included climate change, nuclear energy and waste disposal, ocean instruments, halophytes, Antarctic icebergs, renewable energy sources, ocean pollution, desert irrigation, mine warfare, the marine food web, porpoises and dolphins, skyhook, marine resources and the California Current.

Roger Revelle, Director Emeritus of SIO and a founder of the University of California at San Diego, said, “John was one of the very small number of marine scientists who could be called a true oceanographer in the sense that he was interested in everything about the ocean – the motions of the waters, the ways of life in the sea, the use of an ocean’s resources, and the meaning of the oceans for human history and for mankind’s future.”

Isaacs received many honors, including a citation in 1946 by the Secretary of the U.S. Navy, was elected a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union in 1966, a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1974, received the Lockheed Award for Ocean Science and Engineering from the Marine Technology Society in 1975, was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 1977, and received the National Sea Grant Association Award for innovative contributions to man’s understanding of the world’s oceans in 1978. He was also a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the California Academy of Sciences, and the World Academy of Art and Science.

In September 1998, the Norpax building at SIO was renamed to remember the innovative and well-respected Isaacs. The building was originally built for Isaacs’ North Pacific Ocean studies, one of the first projects that involved both meteorologists and oceanographers researching the climate of the North Pacific Ocean.

To further honor the memory of Professor Isaacs, California Sea Grant awards six Undergraduate Research Assistantships each summer.