| What made it possible:
National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) is a 40 years old laboratory on 1 January 2006. While turning 40, we looked back to find out the factors that resulted in the foundation of NIO. Many of our senior colleagues, who joined NIO, have retired now. But many of us knew that the International Indian Ocean Expedition (IIOE) had a very large role to play in the foundation of this institute. We, however, were interested to trace our roots farther back to find out the visionaries who felt the need of such an organization. To our surprise, we did find some paragraphs in ‘The Indian Ocean Bubble' – a informal communication channel among the scientists of those days. The scientists involved in planning IIOE did not think only of sampling the Indian Ocean but also felt need of establishment of laboratories in this area. Prof. R.B. Montgomery was the first person who expressed his desire about this in The Bubble . He says “…..this program can be so designed as to aid directly the development of one or more oceanographic centers in the countries bordering the Indian Ocean…..” Indian Ocean Bubble (Issue 2; 27 Feb 1959). In an another issue, (Issue 4; 13 July 1959), Eugene (popularly known as Gene) LaFond puts in his words the purpose of expedition besides collecting data as “…To spread the gospel and attain any lasting results, the work has to be carried on partly by the scientists of the Indian Ocean area…. Most Asian students will be enthusiastic….. This opportunity and encouragement should be the primary goal of the expedition.” Prof Gene LaFond had also worked for many years at Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, India much earlier to the IIOE and was quite aware of enthusiasm that the Indian scientists have in oceanographic studies. Just before IIOE, he toured in India explaining importance of IIOE to the enthusiasts spread in various organizations. An account of this has very well been described (Rao and Griffiths, 1988*). It would not be out of place to mention here that many of our earlier scientists had an opportunity to work with Prof LaFond. He loved NIO so much that he also donated his personal collection to NIO in early 80s containing back volumes of Journal of Geophysical Research and other journals, many books, reports and thousands of reprints.
NIO - part of CSIR family:
NIO is fortunate enough to take birth in the CSIR family – The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research – autonomous R&D organization having a cluster of laboratories in different disciplines (40 in number today) spread over India. Tracing the archives of CSIR, we find references of NIO's establishment at various meetings of the Board of Scientific and Industrial Research (BSIR) and Governing body of CSIR. The first proposal to set up the National Institute of Oceanography was placed by Dr. D.N. Wadia, in the 52nd meeting of the BSIR – 23 March 1964. Dr Homi Bhabha also seem to have a strong interest in this institute based on the discussions that have gone in the minutes of the meeting. These recommendations were then approved by the Governing body of CSIR on 24 March 1964 in their 47th meeting. It was interesting to note that Shri Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, who happens to be the President of CSIR, chaired these meetings. The draft plan for setting up of NIO was placed in the Board (54th meeting of BSIR chaired by Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri – the second Prime Minister of India on 5 May 1965) and was then approved in 49th th Governing body meeting of CSIR on 6 May 1965. Initial plan indicates the first organizational structure of the institute and the likely areas of research that it would take up. Interestingly, the need for a research vessel for the institute was also realized during the draft plan period itself. The plan also mentions about the functional units (Indian Ocean Biological Centre (at Ernakulam, Cochin), Indian Ocean Physical Oceanography Centre (at National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad) and Indian Ocean Data Centre (at Delhi) to be part of the institute besides need for other units. While the institute administration started functioning at CSIR, New Delhi, the location of its Headquarters at Goa and the regional stations at Kochi (Cochin), Visakhapatnam (Waltair) and Kolkata (Calcutta) was decided in the 52nd Governing body meeting – 19 November 1966 . By that time, Mrs. Indira Gandhi became the Prime Minister of India and therefore the President of CSIR. The Regional station at Kolkata did not become a reality but the Liaison office to provide logistic support to IIOE participating organizations at Mumbai was transformed into the regional centre of the NIO. The regional stations at Visakhapatnam and Kochi were also elevated to regional centre status. During the early years of NIO in Goa, we functioned from the rented accommodation. Later in 1977, we shifted to the present location on a panoramic view of Arabian Sea in the background. These developments and subsequent progress can be traced through the annual reports of the institute archived on this website separately.
*Rao, T.S.S.; Griffiths, R.C. Understanding the Indian Ocean: Perspectives on oceanography. (IOC Ocean Forum II); Unesco, Paris, France. 1988; 187 pp (excerpts from book from pages 47-60 – Thanks to Unesco Press)
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