2012 Athelstan Spilhaus Award
Dr. John Delaney Awarded AGU Spilhaus Award
For enhancement of the public understanding of the Earth and space sciences
Dr. John Delany has been recognized by the American Geophysical Union for his contribution to the enhancement of the public understanding of the world's oceans through the award of the Athelstan Spilhaus Award. The Athelstan Spilhaus Award is awarded not more than once annually to an individual AGU member for devoting portions of their career to conveying to the general public the excitement, significance, and beauty of the Earth and space sciences. Outreach activities may be through books, essays, newspaper articles, speeches, films or photographic displays, exhibits, radio or television pieces, interviews, web sites, or other media; the goal being to reach wide audiences and enhance public understanding in settings distinct from formal education. Robert H. Eather was the first recipient of the Spilhaus Award in 2006.
Established in 2003, the Spilhaus Award is named in honor of geophysicist and meteorologist Athelstan F. Spilhaus Sr. who enthusiastically made innovative contributions to science, education, and public service. He was a scientist, inventor, innovator, cartoonist, and leader in the geosciences community. His outreach to the general public included an informative science center at the 1961 Seattle World's Fari and "Our New Age," and a long-running science cartoon in some 100 Sunday newspapers throughout the US.
John Delaney has been a passionate tenacious advocate for launching next-generation ocean science and educational capabilities for decades. New approaches will be made possible by distributed robot-sensor networks on the seafloor that enable adaptive, real-time interactive research on natural processes operating throughout the world’s oceans. Since 1997, Delaney has directed development of the cabled network in the northeast Pacific Ocean that has evolved into the NSF Ocean Observatories Initiative Regional Scale Nodes program. Delaney is a Professor of Oceanography and holds the Jerome M. Paros Endowed Chair in Sensor Networks.
