who discovered currents in the ocean

Who discovered Ac and DC current?

The epic race to standardize the electrical system—later known as the War of the Currents—lit up 19th-Century America. In the late 19th century, three brilliant inventors, Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse, battled over which electricity system—direct current (DC) or alternating current (AC)–would become standard.

Who first charted the Gulf Stream?

Benjamin Franklin was the first to chart the Gulf Stream This copy of the first chart of the Gulf Stream was printed in 1786, ten years after Benjamin Franklin first drew it up. (Library of Congress/Constantino Brumidi Fresco/US Capitol)

Who discovered the Arctic Circle?

Arctic exploration is the physical exploration of the Arctic region of the Earth.It refers to the historical period during which mankind has explored the region north of the Arctic Circle.Historical records suggest that humankind have explored the northern extremes since 325 BC, when the ancient Greek sailor Pytheas reached a frozen sea while attempting to find a source of the metal tin.

Who discovered the Murray River?

The River Murray. The River Murray was first discovered by Hume and Hovell, who reached it at a point above Albury in 1824. Hovell named it the Hume after Hume's father, but when Captain Sturt made his voyage to the Murray mouth in 1830, near present day Goolwa, he named it the Murray, after the then Secretary of State for the Colonies.

When were currents in the ocean discovered?

(The phenomenon, discovered by a science-minded slave ship captain in 1751, became common knowledge when ships in the tropics chilled bottles of wine by lowering them overboard on a long rope.)

Why is Matthew Maury famous?

A Naval officer and pioneer in the emerging field of oceanography, Matthew Fontaine Maury was nicknamed the "Pathfinder of the Seas." Maury gave crucial support to Cyrus Field and the idea of a transatlantic cable by showing Field the route that a cable could take across the ocean.

Where is Matthew Maury from?

Spotsylvania County, VAMatthew Fontaine Maury / Place of birthSpotsylvania County is a county in the U.S. state of Virginia. As of the July 2021 estimate, the population was 143,676. Its county seat is Spotsylvania Courthouse. Wikipedia

Why is Matthew Maury called the father of oceanography?

Matthew Maury was a founder of modern oceanography. His systematic study of thousands of historical ships' logs gave him detailed information about currents, winds, and weather conditions all over the world's oceans. His data enabled him to compile new shipping charts allowing ships to cut weeks from long voyages.

Who is the father of Ocean Science?

John Murray (oceanographer)Sir John Murray KCB FRS FRSE FRSGSScientific careerFieldsOceanography LimnologyInstitutionsChallenger Expedition Commission (1872) Director of the Challenger Expedition Commission (1882) Established marine laboratories at Granton and MillportAuthor abbrev. (botany)J.Murray13 more rows

Who is known as the father of marine biology?

AristotleBecause he is the first to record observations on marine life, Aristotle is often referred to as the father of marine biology.

What did Matthew Fontaine Maury do in civil war?

Because of his international fame, he was sent to England as a spokesperson for the Confederate government and the Southern cause. During the Civil War, Maury was successful in acquiring war vessels for the Confederacy and in the progress he made in harbor defense, experimenting with electrical mines.

Who is a famous scientist in oceanography?

Robert Ballard, American oceanographer and marine geologist whose pioneering use of deep-diving submersibles laid the foundations for deep-sea archaeology. He is best known for discovering the wreck of... Matthew Fontaine Maury, U.S. naval officer, pioneer hydrographer, and one of the founders of oceanography.

Who wrote the first oceanography?

James Rennell wrote the first scientific textbooks on oceanography, detailing the current flows of the Atlantic and Indian oceans. During a voyage around the Cape of Good Hope in 1777, he mapped "the banks and currents at the Lagullas".

What are the ocean currents?

Ocean currents are the continuous, predictable, directional movement of seawater driven by gravity, wind (Coriolis Effect), and water density. Ocean water moves in two directions: horizontally and vertically. Horizontal movements are referred to as currents, while vertical changes are called upwellings or downwellings.

What did Matthew Fontaine Maury do in civil war?

Because of his international fame, he was sent to England as a spokesperson for the Confederate government and the Southern cause. During the Civil War, Maury was successful in acquiring war vessels for the Confederacy and in the progress he made in harbor defense, experimenting with electrical mines.

Who is a famous scientist in oceanography?

Robert Ballard, American oceanographer and marine geologist whose pioneering use of deep-diving submersibles laid the foundations for deep-sea archaeology. He is best known for discovering the wreck of... Matthew Fontaine Maury, U.S. naval officer, pioneer hydrographer, and one of the founders of oceanography.

What is the purpose of oceanography?

It regulates Earth's climate, plays a critical role in the hydrological cycle, sustains a large portion of Earth's biodiversity, supplies food and mineral resources, constitutes an important medium of national defense, provides an inexpensive means of transportation, is the final destination of many waste products, is ...

What ocean voyage is considered to be the first truly scientific mission to study the oceans?

The 1870s voyage of HMS Challenger lasted 1,000 days and covered more than 68,000 nautical miles. Many consider it to be the first true oceanographic expedition because it yielded a wealth of information about the marine environment.

Why did Maury become an oceanographer?

Maury became an oceanographer when he was in the navy since he was in an ideal position to study the ocean. As he also read the Bible, he came across a passage written by King David that says, “the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.

Did the Bible say there were paths in the seas?

However, Maury knew that since the Bible was the truth, King David wouldn’t have written that there were paths in the seas if there weren’t actually paths there.

Who was the first to tie the weather with the behavior of the ocean currents?

Since Maury was also a meteorologist, it is likely that he was also among the first to tie the weather with the behavior of the ocean currents. William Fontaine Maury is credited with discovering the ocean currents. Yet, King David clearly knew about them well enough to write about them in Psalm 8. King David was not a sailor, though he probably ...

Who was the discoverer of the Bible?

The discoverer was Matthew Fontaine Maury, who served in the US Navy. Matthew’s grandfather was the Reverend James Maury, who taught Thomas Jefferson. Naturally, when Matthew was young, he benefitted from Bible instruction as well. That gave him a valuable background that led to the discovery. Maury became an oceanographer when he was in ...

Did King David know about ocean currents?

King David was not a sailor, though he probably knew a number of them, so the most likely explanation for his knowledge of the ocean currents is that the knowledge came from God. Amazing, isn’t it? Read Later.

What did Benjamin Franklin do to help the ocean?

He contributed to oceanography in the mid- to late 1700s by making and compiling good observations of ocean currents off the US East Coast. He was particularly interested in the Gulf Stream, a fast-moving current of warm surface water that sweeps up from Florida, along the continental slope off the US East Coast, and then bends eastward across the North Atlantic all the way to Europe. Franklin was the first to refer to the Gulf Stream as a “river in the ocean.” As Deputy Postmaster General of the American colonies, Franklin promoted using the Gulf Stream to speed up delivery of mail from America to Europe, as well as to improve other commercial shipping.

How fast is the Gulf Stream?

The amount of water carried in the Gulf Stream is equal to almost 100 million cubic meters per second, which is nearly 100 times the combined flow of all the rivers on Earth! The speed of the Gulf Stream can be as high as 5 knots. Now you can see why ships heading north and eastward across the North Atlantic tried to stay in the current. It would nearly double their speed, so they could complete their voyages more quickly.

Is the Gulf Stream a river in the ocean?

The Gulf Stream is not really a “river in the ocean” as Franklin thought. But the waters that make up the Gulf Stream are “channeled” into a certain direction and speed by many factors-including prevailing winds, the rotation of the planet, and colder currents around and below the Gulf Stream.

Who was Benjamin Franklin?

Benjamin Franklin was a statesman and diplomat for the newly formed United States, as well as a prolific author and inventor. Franklin helped draft, and then signed, the Declaration of Independence in 1776, and he was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1787. As a civic leader, he initiated a number of new programs in Philadelphia, including a fire company, fire insurance, a library, and a university.

What did Maury do during the Civil War?

He spent the war in the South as well as an envoy of the Confederacy to Great Britain, Ireland, and France. He helped the Confederacy acquire a ship, CSS Georgia, while also trying to convince several European powers to help stop the war. Following the war, Maury was eventually pardoned and accepted a teaching position at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia .

What did Maury Corbin study?

Thereafter, he devoted his time to the study of naval meteorology, navigation, charting the winds and currents, seeking the "Paths of the Seas" mentioned in Psalms 8:8 as: "The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas." Maury had known of the Psalms of David since childhood. In A Life of Matthew Fontaine Maury (compiled by his daughter, Diana Fontaine Maury Corbin, 1888), she states:

What did Maury do in the Navy?

Almost immediately, Maury began to study the seas and to record methods of navigation. One of the experiences that piqued this interest was a circumnavigation of the globe on the USS Vincennes, his assigned ship and the first US warship to travel around the world.

Why did Maury want to open up the Amazon?

Maury wanted to open up the Amazon to free navigation in his plan. However, Emperor Pedro II 's government firmly rejected the proposals, and Maury's proposal received little to no support in the United States, especially in the slave-owning south which sought to perpetuate the institution and the riches made off the yoke of slavery. By 1855, the proposal had certainly failed. Brazil authorized free navigation to all nations in the Amazon in 1866 but only when it was at war against Paraguay when free navigation in the area had become necessary.

What did Maury do on the USS Brandywine?

When a leg injury left him unfit for sea duty, Maury devoted his time to the study of navigation, meteorology, winds, and currents.

Why did Maury study slavery?

In the 1850s he studied a way to send Virginia's slaves to Brazil as a way to gradually phase out slavery in the state. Maury was aware of an 1853 survey of the Amazon region conducted by the Navy by Lt. William Lewis Herndon.

When was Matthew Maury Elementary School built?

Matthew Maury Elementary School in Alexandria, Virginia, was built in 1929. Nearby Arlington, Va., renamed its 1910 Clarendon Elementary to honor Maury in 1944; Since 1976, the building has been home to the Arlington Arts Center. There is a county historical marker outside the former school.

What was the name of the ship that Maury wrote about?

On the voyage to the Pacific, Maury’s ship Falmouth had to go round the infamous Cape Horn. Fascinated by the curiously low atmospheric pressures he recorded there, Maury later wrote his first scientific paper, On the Navigation of Cape Horn, published in the American Journal of Science in July 1834.

What was Maury's job in 1831?

In 1831, age 25, Maury was promoted to sailing master of the sloop-of-war Falmouth. For the first time in his career he had his own cabin. Maury’s ship was due to sail from New York to the Pacific Ocean via Rio de Janeiro. As sailing master, Maury was responsible for planning the ship’s route. In New York he sought information about the winds and currents the ship would encounter. He found nothing. He envisaged for the first time the creation of his famed Wind and Current Charts.

How did the voyages become safer?

Voyages became safer after Maury initiated the use of internationally recognized sea lanes. However, for a time he also made the seas less safe, inventing the ‘electric torpedo,’ the single most devastating naval weapon of the American Civil War. Advertisements.

Why did Matthew go to high school?

His father, fearing Matthew would never recover enough for the hard physical work of farming, decided to allow him to attend high school. When Matthew was fit enough to ride a horse again, he rode six miles to Harpeth Academy twice a day, where he became one of the top students.

What did Maury discover?

The data they gathered revealed a submarine mountain range in the middle of the ocean. Later researchers discovered that this ridge – the Mid-Atlantic Ridge – stretched the entire north-south length of the ocean.

How did Maury's work cut the time of long sea journeys by huge margins?

By showing sailors how to make best use of ocean currents and winds, Maury’s work cut the time of long sea journeys by huge margins. Using his charts:

How did Matthew's brother die?

By the age of 26, he was flag captain of the fleet and was destined for great things. However, at age 31, he died of yellow fever caught on a tropical voyage. He was buried at sea.

How do tides affect ocean currents?

Tides contribute to coastal currents that travel short distances. Major surface ocean currents in the open ocean, however, are set in motion by the wind, which drags on the surface of the water as it blows. The water starts flowing in the same direction as the wind. But currents do not simply track the wind.

How many gyres are there in the world?

There are five main gyres: the North and South Pacific Subtropical Gyres, the North and South Atlantic Subtropical Gyres, and the Indian Ocean Subtropical Gyre. These surface currents play an important role in moderating climate by transferring heat from the equator towards the poles.

What is ocean current?

Ocean Currents. Encyclopedic Entry. Vocabulary. Ocean water is constantly moving, and not only in the form of waves and tides. Ocean currents flow like vast rivers, sweeping along predictable paths. Some ocean currents flow at the surface; others flow deep within water. Some currents flow for short distances; others cross entire ocean basins ...

Why are ocean currents important?

Ocean currents are also critically important to sea life. They carry nutrients and food to organisms that live permanently attached in one place, and carry reproductive cells and ocean life to new places. Rivers flow because of gravity.

How long does it take for a conveyor belt to move water around the globe?

These currents circulate around the globe in a thousand-year cycle.

What causes deep ocean currents?

In contrast to wind-driven surface currents, deep-ocean currents are caused by differences in water density. The process that creates deep currents is called thermohaline circulation —“thermo” referring to temperature and “haline” to saltiness.

What forces pull water with them?

The winds pull surface water with them, creating currents. As these currents flow westward, the Coriolis effect —a force that results from the rotation of the Earth—deflects them. The currents then bend to the right, heading north.

What did Maury do with the bottles?

From the location and date on which the bottles were found, Maury was able to develop his charts of the ocean currents— the ‘paths’ of the seas—which greatly aided the science of marine navigation.

What did Maury do in 1825?

He also had no doubts about its accuracy. And these facts led him to some remarkable discoveries in science. Maury entered the US Navy in 1825, but an accident in 1839 partially disabled him, so he left active sea duty. Three years later, still with the Navy, he was appointed superintendent of the US Naval Observatory in Washington, ...

Where is Matthew Maury's monument?

He was elected to the Hall of Fame for Great Americans. A monument erected in his honour on Monument Avenue, Richmond, Virginia, reads: ‘Matthew Fontaine Maury, Pathfinder of the Seas, the genius who first snatched from the oceans and atmosphere the secret of their laws. His inspiration, Holy Writ, Psalm 8:8; Ecclesiastes 1:6 .’.

Who wrote the first textbook on oceanography?

In 1855, Maury wrote the first textbook on modern oceanography, The Physical Geography of the Sea and Its Meteorology. In this work, Maury presented oceanography from a delightfully Christian view.