Henry Bryant Bigelow,the US Bureau of Fisheries,and Intensive Area Study

Abstract

Oceanographers have long viewed `intensive area study' as a step in the internal development of oceanography. But for its first American practitioner, Henry Bryant Bigelow, intensive area study was a new and innovative approach that allowed him to pursue fundamental questions of hydrology and zoology within the restrictions imposed by his patron, the US Bureau of Fisheries. Intellectually, such methods promised a long-term solution to the problem of predicting fluctuations in fish populations; practically, they required little money and allowed Bigelow to stay physically near the New England fisheries. Reconstructing Bigelow's relationship to the USBF provides the political and social context necessary for understanding the origins and acceptance of a scientific practice. It also shows how scientists must often negotiate between the demands of their patrons for practical information and the demands of their disciplines for `pure' science.