1903: University of California at Berkeley zoologist William E. Ritter conducts a summer feild session in marine biology out of a laboratory built in the boathouse of the Hotel Del Coronado. Members of the Scripps family visit Ritter and offer their support for a permanent marine station in San Diego.
Guardian
1905: The Marine Biological Association of San Diego grants free occupancy of property in La Jolla. Scripps first dedicated laboratory is built for $992, raised by public subscription.
1908: Physicist George McEwen begins gathering data on ocean temperatures, tides and currents. McEwen will go on to attempt to make long-term weather forecasts based upon records of ocean surface temperatures.
1910: The George H. Scripps Memorial Marine Biological Laboratory opens. It is the first permanent marine science facility in the western hemisphere.
1925: The UC Board of Regents formally confers the name Scripps Institution of Oceanography, marking Scripps’ progress from a biological field station to oceanographic institution.
1950: The Thomas Wayland Vaughan Aquarium Museum is completed. “”Scripps Aquarium”” becomes the institution’s window to the ocean world.
1951: Roger Revelle is appointed the fifth director of Scripps. A former Scripps graduate student, acting professor and naval reserve officer, Revelle takes Scripps to sea.
1960: On Nov. 18, 1960, the UC Board of Regents establishes a San Diego campus of the University of California. Scripps Institution of Oceanography begins to confer degrees through the new university.
1979: Scripps satellite facility is named,marking the institution’s official launch into the realm of space-age oceanography.
1983: Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip of England visit Scripps.
1992: The Birch Aquarium at Scripps opens. Construction is funded largely through a $6 million grant from the Stephen and Mary Birch foundation.
1997: Scripps climate researchers make the first successful prediction of a specific El Nino event.
2003: Scripps Institution of Oceanography celebrates its centennial.
