Oceanography - Articles - Zimbio

Inventor of the Wetsuit Dies at 92

Mon, 13 May 2008 04:19:00 GMT

posted by neutraldivegear

If you've ever used a wet suit, you owe something to the late Hugh Bradner.

Hugh Bradner, renowned physicist and professor emeritus at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, died 5 May 2008, in San Diego, Calif. after a prolonged illness. He was 92 years old. Bradner's scientific career incorporated both science and ocean exploration to design many notable ocean technologies, including the first neoprene wetsuit. He has been affiliated with Scripps since 1961 and was professor emeritus at the Cecil H. and Ida M. Green Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics (IGPP).

During his distinguished career as a nuclear physicist, Bradner worked at the U.S. Naval Ordnance Laboratory in Washington D.C. and the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory at UC Berkeley. He was also one of the founding scientists of the Los Alamos National Laboratory working on the Manhattan Project and a faculty member at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and UC San Diego. It was at Los Alamos that he met Marjorie Hall, his wife of 65 years.

Bradner had a lifelong passion for the ocean. He enjoyed diving and sailing and was one of the first Americans to make a deep-water SCUBA dive. In 1951, while working at UC Berkeley, he decided to spend some 'weekend time' improving diving equipment for navy frogmen, which began his pioneering research on the wetsuit. Bradner focused on the design of a wetsuit for military underwater swimmers and developed a foam wetsuit using a unicellular material known as neoprene.

'He was an adventurous man who enjoyed travelling,' said Walter Munk, professor emeritus and director of IGPP during Bradner's tenure at Scripps. 'He built a successful career by combining his geophysical work with his South Pacific adventures.'

Bradner collaborated with scientific divers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography who were experimenting with the new SCUBA regulator invented by Jacques Cousteau and Emile Gagnan. Scripps divers first tested his wetsuit designs at their SCUBA training classes held in the pool of the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club.

'Brad's neoprene wetsuit was a tremendous contribution to scientific diving,' said James Stewart, professor emeritus at Scripps. 'He was a great guy and a lot of fun to work with.'

Bradner was well regarded for his collaborative approach to science, evident in his reluctance to claim himself as sole inventor of the wetsuit. He continued to consult for the military throughout his scientific career. His other research endeavours led to novel diving equipment, including underwater contact lenses, a single-hose regulator and a decompression meter. Bradner even developed a loop system for quickly extracting U.S. Navy SEALs from the water via inflatable boats.

National Aquarium in Baltimore- New Blog

Tue, 25 Jun 2008 22:23:00 GMT

posted by sharkdiver
We got a request from the National Aquarium in Baltimore this afternoon to introduce you "our shark blog fans" to their new aquarium blog.

Covering all things "ocean" from their new dolphin baby they have on the way to sustainable blue crab harvesting in the bay. We liked the clean layout and in depth writing style and who doesn't absolutely love blue crabs?

Our first question was-do they cover sharks?

The answer after a quick look was yes, yes they do.

Underwater Times Reports:Giant Squid Caymans

Wed, 22 May 2008 21:48:00 GMT

posted by sharkdiver
From the good folks over at the Underwater Times the following story of one of our favourite critters in the ocean, the squid.

This rather large 7 foot specimen was found by local fishermen in of all places the Cayman Islands.

After 10 years of diving these islands we have never seen anything like this...apparently no one on the Caymans have seen anything like this either:

George Town, Cayman Islands (May 21, 2008 15:40 EST) A rare squid found floating on the surface of the ocean about 5 miles south of Little Cayman this weekend has been positively identifed as Asperoteuthis.

Local fisherman Derren Burlington, who was taking part in the Brac Jackpot Fishing Tournament, discovered the 24lbs 4oz creature, which is over 7 feet (2.5m) long, on Saturday 18 May at around 9:00 am, and transported it to the Little Cayman Research Centre operated by the Central Caribbean Marine Institute (CCMI).

Dr. Clyde Roper, Emeritus Zoologist at the Smithsonian Institution, has confirmed that it is only the fourth specimen known in the entire Atlantic Ocean. He said all other specimens known of this species – a dozen or so – have been found in the Indo-Pacific waters.

OSIL SUPPLY SKOMER WITH A DATA COLLECTION SYSTEM

Mon, 29 Apr 2008 10:25:00 GMT

posted by osil
OSIL (Ocean Scientific International Ltd.) have recently supplied the Countryside Council for Wales (CCW) with a data collection system for background monitoring at Skomer Marine Nature Reserve. The system consists of an OSIL Shearwater Data Buoy, fitted with a Campbell CR200 Data Logger and a VHF Omi-directional Antenna. When deployed the 1.2 diameter buoy will be attached via a data cable to a customised OSIL Seabed Mounting Frame.

Submarines--And other Fascinations with the Underwater Life!

Wed, 15 May 2008 01:07:24 GMT

posted by fanihiman95376

Well... Just learning how to use some of these *web-search* online applications. So, here my very first attempt at using Zimbio to "get the word out" and I inadvertently send one of my "articles" (aka "Squidoo lens") into oblivion. Now that it's there, I haven't figured out how to remedy the situation.... So, what I'm doing now is sort of a *band-aid* to temporarily fix the situation.

What I wanted to share with folks was my love for things underwater--namely Submarines. I just watched a movie on the TV last night--the "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" --starring Sean Connery... and they had *their* version of the Nautilus submarine (of "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" fame) on that movie. Interesting. So... I've created my lens on submarines --and it's here:
http://www.squidoo.com/submarines

There's a lot of information there that you might find interesting-- you can buy periscopes (not only for the kids, but also for cubicle dwellers, and submarine afficianados), and there are plans for a paper version of the Nautilus--as well as video clips of various home-made and custom submarines (in addition to some vids of military submarines--U.S., Russian, Chinese). Also, lots of pics of submarines and books and other goodies as well! Drop by and visit.

To really get your interest going, I'll add a picture here as well.