Nicholas Paul Fofonoff, physical oceanographer and chairman of the Department of Physical Oceanography at WHOI (1967-1971 and 1981-1985). In 1961 he participated in the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics program at WHOI and was named to the scientific staff the following year. His resarch involved theoretical studies in physical oceanography, and he became a leader in the development of mooring technology and reliable current measuring systems. He also played an important role in the planning and implementation of the seminal MODE (Mid-ocean Dynamics Experiement) program, its successor POLYMODE (Joint US-USSR Mid-Ocean Dynamics Experiment), and eventually of the World Ocean Circulation Experiment, for which he acted as director of the International Project Office from 1991-1993. With Lynn Lewis, he took the lead in the development and introduction of the now standard Practical Salinity Scale. Fofonoff also served as assistant editor of the "Journal of Geophysical Research", and on the editorial board for "Geophysical Fluid Dynamics," and "Dynamics of Atmospheric Oceans. He received the Ocean Sciences Award of the American Meteorological Society in 1998 for "his fundamental work on the general circulation and the physical properties of the ocean and for the development of observation techniques in physical oceanography." He was Professor of the Practice of Physical Oceanography (1968-1985); Associate of the Center for Earth and Planetary Physics (1971-1986); and Distinguished Research Associate (1985-1991) at Harvard.