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S. George Philander
too many people producing a “multiplicity of books; they doth so overcharge the
world that it is not able to digest the abundance of idle matter that is everyday
hatched and brought forth into the world.” Those early scientists overcame the problem by forming “invisible” colleges, small groups of closely collaborating scientists
not necessarily co-located. In the 1970s, “invisible” colleges took the form of small
groups of scientists who organized programs to study phenomena such as coastal
upwelling, and different facets of tropical oceanography in each of the three ocean
basins. In the case of El Ni˜ no studies, a few key senior scientists provided strong
encouragement, but credit for the accomplishments belongs to the junior scientists
who operated without a commanding general. They, jointly, made the important contributions and orchestrated the marriage of what previously had been two separate
disciplines, oceanography and meteorology. In the 1970s this “small science” approach enabled oceanography to progress from “dreamlike” to convincing, testable
explanations for a variety of phenomena. A similar approach today will be a profitable
investment.
Thirty years ago, a visionary NOAA administrator, Joe Fletcher, invited a small
group of young scientists at different NOAA laboratories, all in their early thirties, to
start a program to study a phenomenon, El Ni˜ no, about which very little was known
at the time. Thus started my involvement in small programs that provided the most
rewarding experiences, professionally and personally, of my career. The numerous
meetings were not merely impersonal gatherings to discuss exciting measurements
and theories, but were reunions of friends and their families in wonderful and exotic
places. Today trips to Boston, Bologna, Tokyo, Paris, Venice, Kiel, Seattle, Los Angeles, Honolulu, and Reading are still for the purpose of attending meetings, and above
all for the purpose of visiting dear friends and their families. Enterprising young scientists interested in forming small, “invisible” colleges to explore the strange worlds
of the distant past can be assured that the rewards are wonderful. Older, established
scientists and administrators should encourage and support them. Finding room for
“small” science in our efforts to solve major problems is an imperative.
REFERENCES
1. de Solla Price, D. J., 1986. Little Science, Big Science. . . and Beyond. Columbia University Press,
New York, 301 pp.
2. Berlin, I., 1991. The Crooked Timber of Humanity. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
3. Philander, S. G., 2004. Our Affair with El Ni˜ no; How We Transformed an Enchanting Peruvian
Current into a Global Climate Hazard. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.
4. Sverdrup, H. U., 1947. Wind-driven currents in a baroclinic ocean with application to the equatorial
currents in the eastern Pacific. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 33, 318–326.
5. Stommel, H., 1948. The westward intensification of wind-driven ocean currents. Trans. Am. Geophys.
Union 29, 202–206.
6. Stommel, H. M., 1995. Why do our ideas about the ocean circulation have such a peculiarly dreamlike quality? Or examples of types of observations that are badly needed to test oceanographic
theories. In: Collected Works of Henry M. Stommel. American Meteorological Society, Boston.
S. George Philander
too many people producing a “multiplicity of books; they doth so overcharge the
world that it is not able to digest the abundance of idle matter that is everyday
hatched and brought forth into the world.” Those early scientists overcame the problem by forming “invisible” colleges, small groups of closely collaborating scientists
not necessarily co-located. In the 1970s, “invisible” colleges took the form of small
groups of scientists who organized programs to study phenomena such as coastal
upwelling, and different facets of tropical oceanography in each of the three ocean
basins. In the case of El Ni˜ no studies, a few key senior scientists provided strong
encouragement, but credit for the accomplishments belongs to the junior scientists
who operated without a commanding general. They, jointly, made the important contributions and orchestrated the marriage of what previously had been two separate
disciplines, oceanography and meteorology. In the 1970s this “small science” approach enabled oceanography to progress from “dreamlike” to convincing, testable
explanations for a variety of phenomena. A similar approach today will be a profitable
investment.
Thirty years ago, a visionary NOAA administrator, Joe Fletcher, invited a small
group of young scientists at different NOAA laboratories, all in their early thirties, to
start a program to study a phenomenon, El Ni˜ no, about which very little was known
at the time. Thus started my involvement in small programs that provided the most
rewarding experiences, professionally and personally, of my career. The numerous
meetings were not merely impersonal gatherings to discuss exciting measurements
and theories, but were reunions of friends and their families in wonderful and exotic
places. Today trips to Boston, Bologna, Tokyo, Paris, Venice, Kiel, Seattle, Los Angeles, Honolulu, and Reading are still for the purpose of attending meetings, and above
all for the purpose of visiting dear friends and their families. Enterprising young scientists interested in forming small, “invisible” colleges to explore the strange worlds
of the distant past can be assured that the rewards are wonderful. Older, established
scientists and administrators should encourage and support them. Finding room for
“small” science in our efforts to solve major problems is an imperative.
REFERENCES
1. de Solla Price, D. J., 1986. Little Science, Big Science. . . and Beyond. Columbia University Press,
New York, 301 pp.
2. Berlin, I., 1991. The Crooked Timber of Humanity. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
3. Philander, S. G., 2004. Our Affair with El Ni˜ no; How We Transformed an Enchanting Peruvian
Current into a Global Climate Hazard. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.
4. Sverdrup, H. U., 1947. Wind-driven currents in a baroclinic ocean with application to the equatorial
currents in the eastern Pacific. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 33, 318–326.
5. Stommel, H., 1948. The westward intensification of wind-driven ocean currents. Trans. Am. Geophys.
Union 29, 202–206.
6. Stommel, H. M., 1995. Why do our ideas about the ocean circulation have such a peculiarly dreamlike quality? Or examples of types of observations that are badly needed to test oceanographic
theories. In: Collected Works of Henry M. Stommel. American Meteorological Society, Boston.