Papers of oceanographer Eugene Cecil LaFond. The collection includes oceanographic data records from LaFond's research at the Navy Electronic Laboratory, as well as photographs of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography campus, vessels and personnel in the 1930s.

Eugene Cecil LaFond (1909-1992) began his career at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) as a technical assistant before his promotion to oceanographer, and eventually marine biologist, from 1933 to 1941. He married chemist Katherine Gehring in 1935. In 1941, LaFond was given a leave from SIO to join the University of California Division of War Research (UCDWR) as part of its newly created Oceanographic Studies Group. LaFond was one of the scientific consultants who, in 1946, participated in atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll in Operation Crossroads. Among his many roles at SIO, LaFond photographed the campus and personnel in the 1930s, and contributed charts and illustrations for the foundational oceanography textbook The Oceans: Their Physics, Chemistry, and General Biology (1942). In 1946, LaFond joined the Navy Electronics Laboratory (NEL) to head the Marine Environment Division. Over the next two decades LaFond took a number of leaves of absence from NEL to pursue other research activities and interests, including work on the International Indian Ocean Expedition (IIOE) from 1959-1964 and as visiting professor at Andhra University in the early 1950s. While at NEL, LaFond helped pioneer the use of submersibles to study the ocean floor, including the Trieste, Soucoupe Marine, and Westinghouse Deepstar 4000. LaFond returned to NEL in 1964 and remained there as senior scientist and consulting oceanographer until his retirement.

14.2 Linear feet (24 archives boxes, 9 card file boxes, 1 flat box, 1 map case folder, and 24 films)

Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection.

COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE. ALLOW ONE WEEK FOR RETRIEVAL OF MATERIALS.