Intellectual History of Sea Grant

Abstract

Congress established the National Sea Grant College Program in 1966 to hasten the development, use and conservation of America's marine resources. The inspiration for Sea Grant was the land-grant colleges established by the Morrill Act of 1862 and later legislation which incorporated experiment stations and extension services as a part of the land-grant system. This paper explores the intellectual heritage that provided the basis for these institutions and argues that Sea Grant falls clearly within an intellectual tradition that emphasized practical over theoretical science, stressed the value of specialized knowledge for tackling social and economic problems, and encouraged the wide dissemination of scientific knowledge. These themes recurred throughout the development of the land-grant and Sea Grant programs and have been invoked recently in the legislation to create Space Grant colleges.