Richard Haven Backus was a renowned biological oceanographer who spent his entire career at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). He was born in Rochester, NY, in 1922 and grew up in West Webster, NY, where he developed a love for nature and the outdoors. He graduated from The Harley School and went on to study at Dartmouth College, where he became involved in the Outing Club and served as a B-24 navigator during World War II. Backus pursued further education at Cornell University, earning an M.S. in Vertebrate Zoology and a Ph.D. in Ichthyology.
Edmond Watson is a former hydrographer and research associate who has been involved with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. In the early 1930s, Watson was appointed as a hydrographer on the International Passamaquoddy Fisheries Commission, a project aimed at studying the impact of dam construction on the herring fishery along the East Coast. During this time, Watson became acquainted with Dr. Bigelow, a professor at Harvard who had established the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Dr.