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Robinson (Margaret K.) Papers
SMC 0090
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Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla 92093-0175
Title: Margaret K. Robinson Papers
Creator:
Robinson, Margaret K., 1906-2006
Identifier/Call Number: SMC 0090
Physical Description:
2 Linear feet
(4 archives boxes and 2 shoeboxes)
Date (inclusive): 1908-1983
Abstract: The Margaret K. Robinson papers contain a selection of material accumulated during her time at Scripps Institution of Oceanography
as a researcher and head of the Bathythermograph Unit. The majority of the collection consists of research data, draft writings,
and talks given at various oceanographic and scientific conferences between the mid-1950s and the early 1970s.
Languages:
English
.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Margaret K. Robinson papers contain a selection of material accumulated during her time at Scripps Institution of Oceanography
as a researcher and head of the Bathythermograph Unit. The majority of the collection consists of research data, draft writings,
and talks given at various oceanographic and scientific conferences between the mid-1950s and the early 1970s. Robinson performed
data analysis from the Downwind Expedition (1957-1958) and the Naga Expedition (1959-1961), and some of that work is reflected
here. Robinson published several volumes of atlases documenting sea temperatures using bathythermographic data, and early
rough versions of the atlases are in the collection. The collection contains very little correspondence or other material
that sheds a more personal light on Robinson's career in science, though there are a few folders of notes she created as a
student, and some early data records on ocean temperature and salinity that were entrusted to her office.
Arranged in four series: 1) BIOGRAPHICAL, 2) COURSE NOTES, 3) RESEARCH, WRITING & TALKS, and 4) FILMS.
Margaret King Robinson (1906-2006) was born in Provo, Utah, February 23, 1906. She was the youngest of the four children of
Samuel Andrew King, an attorney, and Maynetta Bagley King. She was raised in Salt Lake City.
Robinson received a B.A. with honors from the University of Utah in 1928, where she majored in French and German. She advanced
her language studies with summer classes at the University of California, Berkeley in 1926, 1927, and 1929. She attended Business
College in Casper, Wyoming in 1930 to study stenography, was certified in drafting by the University of California War Training
in 1944, and took courses in education at San Diego State College in 1946. She began taking classes at the Scripps Institution
of Oceanography in February 1947 and received a M.S. degree from UCLA based on her graduate work at Scripps in 1951.
Robinson moved from Salt Lake City to La Jolla, California in 1943 and worked as a tool designer at Consolidated-Vultee Aircraft
Company until the war ended. She taught junior high school in Pacific Beach for a year. She joined the staff of the Scripps
Institution of Oceanography in 1946 as a clerk in the Bathythermograph Unit. Robinson advanced to laboratory technician in
1947 and senior engineering aid in 1949. She became an assistant oceanographer in 1952 and held that rank for a decade. She
was ranked as Associate Specialist Oceanographer in 1962 and advanced to specialist in 1969. She headed the Bathythermograph
Unit beginning in February 1957. The work of the unit was supported by grants from the Office of Naval Research until 1961.
Robinson also received large grants from the U.S. Naval Oceanographic Office for the digitization of BT observations. In 1960,
Robinson began receiving grant support from the National Science Foundation, which continued until 1974. She retired from
the Scripps Institution of Oceanography on October 1, 1973.
Robinson was expert in processing, analyzing and archiving bathythermograph data. She was a pioneer in the use of computers
to analyze world-wide oceanographic data. She lectured widely on bathythermograph data, and traveled throughout the world
to scientific meetings.
Robinson married James P. McCeney in 1932 and lived in Washington, D.C.; they divorced in 1937. She married Arthur Goodwin
Robinson May 24, 1937. He died in 1966. She had two children: a daughter, Renan Suhl, and a son, Dr. Creighton H. Robinson.
Robinson served as a consultant to industry and scientific organizations. She was a member of the American Association for
the Advancement of Science, the American Geophysical Union, the Arctic Institute of America, Phi Kappa Phi, and many other
organizations. UNESCO appointed her technical expert in the hydrographic department of the Thai Royal Navy 1962-1963 where
she advised the government of Thailand on oceanography, just after the Scripps Institution of Oceanography Naga Expedition
(1959-1961) which explored the Gulf of Thailand.
This Biographical Note has been adapted from an essay by Deborah Day, SIO Archivist, 2002.
Margaret K. Robinson Papers. SMC 90. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego Library.
Acquired 2000
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE. ALLOW ONE WEEK FOR RETRIEVAL OF MATERIALS.
Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection.
A small selection of materials from the collection have been digitized, or are available in only digital format. They are
linked in the container list.
Original audiovisual recordings are restricted. Listening/viewing copies may be available for researchers.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Women oceanographers -- Archives
Ocean temperature -- Measurement -- Atlases
Thermoclines (Oceanography) -- Atlases
Bathythermograph
Robinson, Margaret K., 1906-2006 -- Archives