Several scientific institutions that disseminated oceanic knowledge emerged around the world in the second half of the nineteenth century and early twentieth century. New technologies enabled scholars from various disciplines to study the ocean in ways that had previously not been possible. New knowledge about ocean currents, the deep sea, and weather patterns influenced cartography, navigation, and shipping. The German Maritime Observatory was one of these emerging institutions (Deutsche Seewarte, 1875-1945). The German Maritime Observatory, founded by Georg von Neumayer, who had previously established the Flagstaff Observatory in Melbourne, Australia, traded knowledge and ideas with similar institutions near and far. After Neumayer retired in the early 1900s, many of the institute's international connections gradually faded. Germany was geopolitically isolated during the World Wars, profoundly impacting how the Observatory operated. Throughout its seventy-year existence, the technology that enabled scholars to produce knowledge about the oceans changed, as did the methods of communicating the knowledge they produced. This paper will analyze how the German Maritime Observatory exchanged and circulated knowledge about the ocean with international partners, both in times of peace and times of conflict.

An emerging post-World War I Pacific power, Imperial Japan invested in biological coral research, founding in 1934 the Palau Tropical Biology Station (PTBS) led by Hatai Shinkishi in its Micronesia mandate. PTBS scientists, through their English language journal, introduced knowledge that they produced to the anglophone field dominated by the Australians and Americans, to establish PTBS as the world’s premier coral research center. The Japanese government disbanded PTBS as the Asia Pacific Wars intensified; Japan’s biological coral research slowed down after defeat and loss of its known coral habitat territories. Japanese scientists thereafter worked to reclaim their glory, finding new research grounds and establishing at the 1966 Pacific Science Congress’ the Shinkishi Hatai Medal honoring excellence in marine biology research. Framed to honor Hatai’s PTBS leadership, the award sought to make into legend past Japanese Koror-based scientific accomplishments. With the 1994 inauguration of the International Coral Reef Initiative and Palau’s independence from the U.S. TTPI, the Japanese, this time upon invitation of the Palauan government, helped to establish the Palau International Coral Research Center (PICRC). Completed in 2001, PICRC was curated with a nostalgic nod to PTBS, as an attempt to reestablish Micronesia as an important coral research hub that hosted its first international conference in 2003. This paper looks at the past century’s Japanese pursuits to position Palau as a world-class coral research and exchange that whatever the motivations, brough important Micronesian presence into Pacific Ocean science.

In this presentation, I review the expansion of Soviet marine sciences–oceanography, marine geology, and fisheries science–on the international scene in the period of Thaw. As it is well known after the period of autarky of the first years of the Cold War, since the mid-1950s Soviet science rapidly internationalized. Soviet Union entered the International Council for Science (ICSU) with its newly established in 1957 Special Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) and joined preparation for the International Geophysical Year of 1957-58, and returned to the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) and other organizations. In 1961 Soviet scientists played a significant role in founding the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC/UNESCO). Soviet marine scientists actively participated in the First International Oceanographic Congress in New York in 1959 and organized the Second one in Moscow in 1966. I look at these activities not only from above, as part of the institutional history of marine sciences, but mainly through the eyes of scientists. My analysis is based on published and unpublished reports of Soviet scientists, official and unofficial encounters reflected in publications and correspondence. An important aspect of my research is connected with the gender studies of Soviet science, as I stress the significant role of female scientists in such a masculine field as oceanography, and the exceptional, while not easy, position of Soviet female scientists who were able to take part in expeditions and presentations at conferences abroad, but struggled for leading roles in their institutions at home.

On March 11, 2011, the strongest earthquake in Japan’s recorded history hit its northeast coast, followed by a forty-meter-high tsunami. These events caused devastation on land, but their origins lie deep beneath the seafloor. Thirteen months later, aboard the scientific drillship Chikyu, an international team of geoscientists uncovered the earthquake’s causes and installed underwater observatories for long-term monitoring. This case highlights how scientific drillships serve as laboratories where local and global processes meet: Regional geological phenomena are interpreted on a global scale, local practices merge with international technologies, and research takes place in a globally regulated maritime space. In addition to geoscientists, other key stakeholders—technicians, program managers, administrators, operators, drillers, and government officials—have also been vital in shaping our understanding of the seafloor.

This paper explores alternative ways to understand the recent history of the oceans through oral history, a method that brings diverse perspectives into conversation. It does so by examining cooperative scientific ocean drilling expeditions for studying mega-earthquakes along Japan's Pacific seafloor since the 1970s. Analyzing expert accounts from institutions around the world reveals a nuanced narrative of international ocean research. It highlights the challenges, negotiations, agreements, and tensions, while offering new insights into how regional practices, technologies, and funding sources came together to create global knowledge of the seafloor.