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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Descriptive Summary
  • Scope and Content of Collection
  • Biography
  • Preferred Citation
  • Acquisition Information
  • OFF-SITE STORAGE
  • Publication Rights
  • Restrictions
  • Digital content

  • Descriptive Summary

    Contributing Institution: Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
    9500 Gilman Drive
    La Jolla 92093-0175
    Title: Martin W. Johnson Papers
    Creator: Johnson, Martin W. (Martin Wiggo), 1893-1984
    Identifier/Call Number: SMC 0012
    Physical Description: 6.13 Linear feet (7 archives boxes, 3 cassette boxes, 2 flat boxes, 1 map case folder)
    Date (inclusive): 1915-1984
    Abstract: Papers of Martin W. Johnson (1893-1984), marine biologist, oceanographer, and professor emeritus at UC San Diego. Johnson was a leader in the study of marine invertebrates and underwater acoustics. The collection contains correspondence, research, writings, drawings, photographs, and sound recordings.
    Languages: English .

    Scope and Content of Collection

    Papers of Martin W. Johnson (1893-1984), marine biologist, oceanographer, and professor emeritus at UC San Diego. The collection documents Johnson's scientific career and includes material dating from 1915 to 1984, including: a small selection of research notes, data, and reports; an assortment of writings and lectures, including versions of an unpublished memoir; correspondence; original drawings; photographs; and sound recordings. Of particular interest at Johnson's original drawings and sketches, notes from various early expeditions and major experiments, and a small selection of photographs from the 1939-40 Gulf of California Expedition documenting the coast and landscape of Baja California. Other photographs show rare images of early Scripps faculty and activity aboard the R/V E.W. Scripps.
    There are gaps in the documentation and the papers are not comprehensive, containing only materials set aside by Johnson as being significant; for example, the writings and research does not encompass all of his known work.
    Arranged in 6 series: 1) BIOGRAPHICAL, 2) CORRESPONDENCE, 3) RESEARCH, WRITINGS, AND EVENTS, 4) VISUAL RESOURCES, 5) SOUND RECORDINGS, 6) WORKS BY OTHERS.

    Biography

    Martin Wiggo Johnson was born in Chandler, South Dakota on September 30, 1893. In his early years, Johnson worked as a logger and guarded salmon traps from fish pirates. This experience fueled Johnson's interest in ecologies and science. After serving in the army during World War I, Johnson pursued his education.
    Johnson attended the University of Washington and graduated with a B.S. in 1923, followed by an M.S. in 1930 and a Ph.D. in 1932. During this time, Johnson taught in public schools. He was an associate professor at the University of Washington from 1933-1934 and the curator of the Friday Harbor biological station in 1934; that year, he was offered a position at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. During World War II, Johnson worked at the University of California Division of War Research, where he researched underwater sounds interfering with sonar reception (identifying snapping shrimp as one source). Johnson also developed and successfully tested a theory about the biological nature of the Deep Scattering Layer, demonstrating the diurnal migrations of plankton in the layer in 1945. For this work, Johnson received accommodations from the U.S. Navy and Franklin D. Roosevelt. After the war, he returned to his focus on the biogeography of the Pacific.
    Martin W. Johnson is best known for his research on zooplankton, lobsters, and other marine invertebrates, and for being one of the original co-authors of The Oceans: Their Physics, Chemistry and General Biology (1942), the first comprehensive textbook on oceanography.
    Johnson was a member of the California Academy of Science, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Microbiology Society, and the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography. In 1959, Johnson was awarded the Alexander Agassiz Medal for his outstanding leadership in biological and general oceanography. Martin W. Johnson passed away on November 28, 1984.

    Preferred Citation

    Martin W. Johnson Papers. SMC 12. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.

    Acquisition Information

    Acquired 1981, 1984.

    OFF-SITE STORAGE

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

    Publication Rights

    Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection.

    Restrictions

    Original sound recordings are restricted. Listening copies may be available for researchers.

    Digital content

    Selected images from this collection, including portraits, certificates, and photographs from the Gulf of California Expedition (1939-40) have been digitized and can be viewed by searching the term "Martin W. Johnson Papers" on the UC San Diego Library Digital Collections website.

    Subjects and Indexing Terms

    Operation Crossroads, Marshall Islands, 1946
    Oceanographers -- Photographs
    Scientific expeditions -- Photographs
    Johnson, Martin W. (Martin Wiggo), 1893-1984 -- Archives
    E.W. Scripps (Ship)
    Gulf of California Expedition (1939)
    MidPac Expedition (1950)
    Capricorn Expedition (1952-1953)
    EASTROPAC Expedition (1967-1968)