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Fisher (Robert L.) Papers
SMC 0114
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Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla 92093-0175
Title: Robert L. Fisher Papers
Creator:
Fisher, Robert L. (Robert Lloyd), 1925-
Identifier/Call Number: SMC 0114
Physical Description:
47 Linear feet
(47 cartons, 25 films, 1 map case folder, 54 map case drawers, 284 rolled charts)
Date (inclusive): 1950-2013
Abstract: Scripps Institution of Oceanography research geologist Robert L. Fisher's papers, correspondence, professional materials,
research files and writings.
Languages:
English
.
Scope and Content of Collection
Scripps Institution of Oceanography research geologist Robert L. Fisher's papers, correspondence, professional materials,
research files and writings. It includes an extensive array of materials pertaining to SIO expeditions and marine operations,
as well the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO) and Deep Sea Drilling projects. Subjects of note include marine
geology, seafloor exploration and cartography, and deep-sea topography, as well as the study of seafloor spreading, subduction
and plate tectonics.
Arranged in fifteen series: 1) BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS, 2) CORRESPONDENCE, 3) SUBJECT FILES, 4) GROUPS & ORGANIZATIONS, 5)
GENERAL BATHYMETRIC CHART OF THE OCEANS (GEBCO), 6) MARINE OPERATIONS COMMITTEE (MOC), 7) CONFERENCES & EVENTS, 8) EXPEDITIONS
& WORK AT SEA, 9) DEEP SEA DRILLING PROJECT (DSDP), 10) TEACHING, 11) TALKS & APPEARANCES, 12) WRITINGS & PUBLICATIONS, 13)
PHOTOGRAPHS & SLIDES, 14) AUDIOVISUAL MATERIALS and 15) CHARTS AND MAPS.
Acquired 1990-2013.
Robert L. Fisher Papers. SMC 114. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.
Robert Lloyd Fisher (b. 1925) is a Research Geologist Emeritus in the Geosciences Research Division at the Scripps Institution
of Oceanography (SIO). He is known as a leading contributor to the field of deep-sea geology, with significant lifelong contributions
to the areas of seafloor exploration and cartography, sub-oceanic igneous crustal composition and structure, and trench tectonics
in the Pacific and Indian oceans. Fisher earned a B.S. in Geology from Caltech in 1949 and a Ph.D. in Marine Geology from
UCLA in 1957 (with all research completed at the SIO campus). Active at sea from 1951 to the early 1980s, Fisher was a participant
in, and chief scientist of, many major deep-sea geological-geophysical expeditions from SIO. In the 1950s and 1960s he used
sound-train analyses from subsurface bomb detonations and innovative echo-sounding practices to determine the depths of deepest-ocean
trenches. Fisher was among the first to recognize Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench as the deepest locality in the world's
oceans, as well as finding Horizon Deep in the Tonga Trench, slightly less, to be the deepest point in the Southern Hemisphere.
A dexterous mapmaker, Fisher's participation in SIO's Vermilion Sea Expedition to the Gulf of California in 1959 produced
a bathymetric chart in 1961 which foreshadowed later plate tectonic patterns. Pioneering the theory of subduction, the 1954
two-ship CHUBASCO Expedition in the Middle America Trench established that at trenches the "oceanic" crust above the mantle
creeps diagonally into the mantle beneath the landward flanks "continental" layers by convective action.
When the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) installed a working group to coordinate the International Indian
Ocean Expedition (1959-1965) Fisher was appointed Co-Chairman alongside USSR's P. L. Bezrukov of its Geology-Geophysics and
Bathymetry Subcommittee. He also served as chairman (1982-2003) of the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO) Subcommittee
on Undersea Feature Names, there advocating for the appropriate and enduring naming of newly-discovered seafloor features.
Fisher was awarded the inaugural Drake Medal by GEBCO in 2004 in recognition of his lifelong contributions to global oceanic
geography.
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE. ALLOW ONE WEEK FOR RETRIEVAL OF MATERIALS.
Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection.
SIO Biographical Files, SAC 5. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.
A small selection of digital images associated with this collection are available on the UC San Diego Library Digital Collections
website. To view these images, go to the website and search the phrase, in quotes, "Robert L. Fisher Papers."
Original media formats are restricted. Viewing/listening copies may be available for researchers.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Submarine geology
Submarine topography
Ocean bottom
Fisher, Robert L. (Robert Lloyd), 1925- -- Archives
Scripps Institution of Oceanography