Martin W. Johnson


Martin Wiggo Johnson, was an American oceanographer.

Background

Of Scandinavian ancestry, Johnson was born in a farm house on the Great Plains in Chandler, South Dakota. As a young man, he was a general ranch hand. His family moved to Washington state, where he worked as a logger and as a guard on salmon traps.

Education

After army service during World War I, Johnson attended the University of Washington and graduated in 1923. He was later awarded a PhD by his university.

Death

Johnson died on November 28, 1984, in Snohomish, Washington.

Career summary

The National Academy of Sciences in 1959 awarded Johnson the Alexander Agassiz Medal, "For his outstanding leadership in biological and general oceanography. Among Dr. Johnson's contributions are explanations for two newly discovered acoustic phenomena in the sea. These explanations brought biologist and physicists together in a common interest, and introduced underwater acoustics as a prime tool for marine ecology".

Personal life

Johnson was a mandolin player and had a wood carving hobby. In 1983 a scientific paper, Spectral properties of Noctiluca miliaris Suriray, a heterotrophic dinoflagellate, by W.M. Balch and F.T. Haxo, was "...dedicated to Martin W. Johnson on the occasion of his 90th birthday."