Do you NOAA our history?
1. The answer is B! Thomas Jefferson founded the nation’s first scientific agency, the Survey of the Coast, to provide nautical charts to the American maritime community for safe passage into American ports and along our extensive coastline in 1807. It later became part of NOAA.
Official Presidential portrait of Thomas Jefferson (by Rembrandt Peale, 1800)
2. The answer is C! The first government agency to provide weather observations and warnings was established within the U.S. Army in 1870. The Weather Bureau began in 1890, when Congress transferred these services to the Department of Agriculture.
3. The answer is A! The first weather satellite, the TIROS-1, was launched in 1960. While in orbit for 78 days, TIROS-1 generated 23,000 pictures of the Earth, enhancing our understanding of meteorology and expanding our view of our planet, its natural wonders, and its place in the heavens.
4. The answer is B! The first marine research station started in a borrowed shed in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and grew into the nation’s center of fisheries research. It also houses the first public aquarium in the United States.
5. The answer is C! The Albatross was the first vessel built especially for marine research by any government. In the year 1881, Congress authorized an appropriation totaling $148,000 for the construction of the vessel. The keel was laid in March 1882, the ship was launched in August, and she made her trial run on December 30.
The Albatross dredging. (Report on the Construction and Outfit of the United States Fish Commission Steamer Albatross, by Lieutenant-Commander Z. L. Tanner, U. S. N. United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries.)
6. The answer is D! With the entry of the United States into World War I in 1917, the commissioned service of the Coast & Geodetic Survey was formed in order to eliminate the unexpected situation that arose during the Civil War, where civilian scientists accompanying armed forces were in jeopardy of being considered spies if captured by the enemy.
NOAA Corps officers. Standing L to R – Jeffers, Tison, Malnate, Wennermark, Grenell, Clark, Conerly, Sawyer. Kneeling – L to R, Dr. Lush, Upham, _ , _, David Whipp. Wardroom of the Coast and Geodetic Survey Ship Explorer. (Family of Captain David M. Whipp, C&GS)
7. The answer is D! The Monitor National Marine Sanctuary off the coast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina and Key Largo National Marine Sanctuary off the coast of Key Largo, Florida (now part of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary) were the first areas to be designated as such in 1975.