Science and Sails

This memoir is meant to be an interesting mix of stories about ocean science and the adventures of sailing by the first women graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology-Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program in which I earned my Ph. D. in 1975. The science stories are readable for a lay audiences and offer a valuable insight behind the scenes of several aspects of international ocean science research related to environmental quality issues during the decades of 1970 through 2000. The list of published scientific papers accompanying each chapter focused on scientific research enables readers who are scientists to access the relevant scientific literature that pertains. The chapters about sailing take the reader from down the East Coast of America, the Mediterranean, across the Atlantic to Bermuda and then later from Bermuda to across the Pacific to Australia.

This memoir by Kathy Burns charts the career of the first woman graduate from the most prestigious oceanographic institute in the world, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Joint Program . The first chapter is the struggle and achievements of a graduate student who discovers a new test that will revolutionize efforts at monitoring toxins in the marine environment. The time scale is the early nineteen seventies at the beginning of global awareness of the dangers of unchecked coastal development that was ruining the ecological functioning of critical estuaries. Kathy is caught up in the urgency of saving the Oceans and is launched into a career which until this time was strictly a man’s domain and has to overcome the prejudices and downright hostility of male colleagues and associates who want to preserve their exclusivity. Subsequent chapters follow Kathy and her husband, Robbie, around the world as Kathy takes up positions in Melbourne Australia, Monaco, Bermuda Biological Station, and then back to the Australian Institute of Marine science in Townsville Australia and their adventures in sailing between these positions on the world globe. Most people fly on commercial airlines but these two decided that was too tame, stocked their yacht with provisions and set sail. Not even Kathy’s chronic seasickness deters her and you have to wonder at her drive and determination, no doubt the same impetus to get her PHD degree at such a transitional time for women in science. The memoir is meant to be an interesting mix of stories about ocean science and the adventures of sailing by the first women graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology-Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program in which I earned my Ph. D. in 1975. The science stories are readable for a lay audiences and offer a valuable insight behind the scenes of several aspects of international ocean science research related to environmental quality issues during the decades of 1970 through 2000. The list of published scientific papers accompanying each chapter focused on scientific research enables readers who are scientists to access the relevant scientific literature that pertains. The chapters about sailing take the reader from down the East Coast of America, the Mediterranean, across the Atlantic to Bermuda and then later from Bermuda to across the Pacific to Australia.

I am a retired oceanographer and wrote this memoir to encourage young marine scientists in their early careers. However, I have written all the science in terms that every reader, scientist or not, to be able to understand and enjoy. My career took me to many interesting places and I hope the readers enjoy the science and sailing stories.