On this day in history...
...in 1961, Albert Defant’s book, Physical Oceanography, was published by Pergamon Press as a comprehensive two-volume set. This extensive treatise, totaling over 1,300 pages, has been instrumental in shaping the field of physical oceanography, offering a remarkable balance between descriptive analysis, mathematical formulations, and graphical representations.
The first volume, spanning 729 pages, is structured into two main sections. The first is a descriptive account of oceanographic phenomena, detailing the distributions of temperature, salinity, and currents, while the second deepens into the physical principles governing ocean dynamics, including circulation patterns and the forces that drive them. The second volume, comprising 598 pages, is also divided into two parts, the first focusing on ocean waves and their propagation, and the second providing an in-depth analysis of tides and their underlying mechanisms.
One of the most striking aspects of Physical Oceanography is the supplementary maps included in the work, which illustrate global distributions of key oceanographic variables. Created in the 1950s, these maps are impressively accurate for their time, reflecting the precision and observational rigor of the era. The book conveys a sense of completeness, much like The Oceans by Sverdrup, Johnson, and Fleming, giving the impression that nearly everything fundamental about the ocean was already understood at the time of publication. In many ways, modern research in physical oceanography often feels like a process of refining and confirming the insights established by these early pioneers.
While the exact publication date remains uncertain, the book's preface is dated March 1960, and so we have assigned this milestone to March 1. If anyone has more precise information about its release, we’d love to know!
The book is publicly available at the Internet Archive here.
Picture shared at https://www.ukargo.net/about/float_history/sofar_floats/ by courtesy of Tom Rossby.
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