Fred Spiess

Dr. Fred Noel Spiess (December 25, 1919 – September 8, 2006) was an oceanographer and marine explorer who helped create the FLIP floating laboratory.

Spiess (pronounced SPEES) was born in Oakland, California. He received an undergraduate degree from the University of California, Berkeley and a master's degree from Harvard University. He received his doctorate in physics from UC Berkeley in 1951.

Spiess was awarded the John Price Wetherill Medal in 1965 and the Maurice Ewing Medal in 1985. The same year he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering.

Spiess joined the Marine Physical Laboratory at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in 1952 and served as director of the laboratory from 1958 to 1980. He served as director of the Scripps Institution from 1964 to 1965.

Spiess is probably best remembered for his role in the creation of R/P FLIP (Floating Instrument Platform), a unique 355-for long research platform that is towed to the work area and then rotated to a vertical position to form a stable observation post in deep water. FLIP has remained in use for more than 40 years primarily for physical oceanographic and acoustic experiments. Spiess collaborated with Fred Fisher and Phillip Rudnick in development of the vessel.

FLIP has been used to study the acoustics of whales and other marine mammals, heat exchange between the ocean and the atmosphere, and the effects of seismic waves on water.

The development of the echo sounder for sea-floor mapping was refined during World War II. Soon research ships crossing the oceans outlined the mid-ocean ridges, fracture zones, and deep-sea trenches. Because these devices sent out broad-beam sound waves from the sea surface, details of the sea floor shape remained obscured by fuzzy smeared out echoes. Ship navigation was so inaccurate that features smaller than a few kilometers across could not be mapped with any certainty. Spiess’ solution to the resolution and mapping problem was two fold; bring the echo sounder close to the sea floor and locate the device within a seabed survey network.

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