June Pattullo (1921-1972)
June Pattullo was an outstanding scientist and highly regarded by oceanographers everywhere. She received her doctorate from Scripps Institution of Oceanography in 1957 and became a research oceanographer for the Institution. In the fall of 1960, Dr. Pattullo was appointed Associate Professor of Physical Oceanography at Oregon State University. During her years of research, she became an authority on sea level and its dependence to worldwide heating and cooling. She also had a special interest in coastal upwelling off the Oregon coast. Dr. Pattullo spent a considerable amount of time at sea despite a rule that women could not go out on her primary research vessel, the ACONA, unless another woman accompanied her.
Dr. Pattullo was extremely devoted to each of her graduate students and determined to help them succeed. Her former student, Jan Huyer, recalls “As June’s students in 1970 we each had weekly appointments, in close succession on the same day of the week. So each of us waited in the hall outside her office on the fourth floor of the Oceanography building. One day, while I was waiting for her to finish with the previous student, a faculty member interrupted the queue, breaking in ahead of me. After he left and I went in to her office, June said, ‘It’s only when he does things like this that I can’t stand him. Most of the time he is decent enough.’ Then she dropped that and the discussion turned to details of my particular research project on the variability of Oregon coastal currents.”
After Dr. Pattullo’s death, the Oceanography library at Oregon State University was named the “Pattullo Study” in her memory. Outside the room is a bronze plaque, which says:
June Pattullo
1921-1971
A pioneer in the Oregon State University Oceanography program. Her devotion to her students and to her science remain a model to those who followed her.
Inside the study, with her portrait, is the following inscription:
June Pattullo – oceanographer, scientist, scholar. She is best remembered as a teacher, chalk in hand, enthusiastically illustrating her remarks to colleagues. Busy as a major professor to 27 graduate students during her 11 years with the School of Oceanography at Oregon State University, she managed to publish regularly in professional journals, to be on the editorial board of the Journal of Physical Oceanography and to serve as vice-president of the Oceanographic section of the American Geophysical Union (1970-1972), where she was to become president had not death intervened.
Dr. Pattullo was a descriptive physical oceanographer, with a special interest in the coastal upwelling phenomenon off the coast of Oregon. Her investigations, and numerous data reports add immeasurably to the knowledge of the area and the phenomenon. Her inquiring mind led in many directions. She studied writing and public speaking to improve her own efforts and insisted that her students become good communicators as well as good scientists.
Some select publications:
- Oceanic Heat Content off Oregon, its Variation and their Causes (with Wayne V. Burt and Sally Kulm) Limnology and Oceanography 14(2) 1960.
- An Investigation of the Early Stage of Upwelling Along the Oregon Coast (with R.L. Smith and R.K. Lane) J. Geophysical Research 71(4) 1966.
- Ocean Currents above the Continental Shelf off Oregon as Measured with a Single Array of Current Meters (with C.A. Collins) J. Marine Research 28(6) 1970.
- A Comparison between Wind and Current Observations over the Continental Shelf off Oregon, Summer 1969 (with Adriana Jane Huyer) J. Geophysical Research 77(18) 1972.
- Surface Currents off Oregon as Determined from Drift Bottle Returns (with Bruce Wyatt and Wayne V. Burt) J. Physical Oceanography 2(3) 1972.
June Pattullo
1921-1972
June Pattullo was an outstanding scientist and highly regarded by oceanographers everywhere. She received her doctorate from Scripps Institution of Oceanography in 1957 and became a research oceanographer for the Institution. In the fall of 1960, Dr. Pattullo was appointed Associate Professor of Physical Oceanography at Oregon State University. During her years of research, she became an authority on sea level and its dependence to worldwide heating and cooling. She also had a special interest in coastal upwelling off the Oregon coast. Dr. Pattullo spent a considerable amount of time at sea despite a rule that women could not go out on her primary research vessel, the ACONA, unless another woman accompanied her.
Dr. Pattullo was extremely devoted to each of her graduate students and determined to help them succeed. Her former student, Jan Huyer, recalls “As June’s students in 1970 we each had weekly appointments, in close succession on the same day of the week. So each of us waited in the hall outside her office on the fourth floor of the Oceanography building. One day, while I was waiting for her to finish with the previous student, a faculty member interrupted the queue, breaking in ahead of me. After he left and I went in to her office, June said, ‘It’s only when he does things like this that I can’t stand him. Most of the time he is decent enough.’ Then she dropped that and the discussion turned to details of my particular research project on the variability of Oregon coastal currents.”
After Dr. Pattullo’s death, the Oceanography library at Oregon State University was named the “Pattullo Study” in her memory. Outside the room is a bronze plaque, which says:
June Pattullo
1921-1971
A pioneer in the Oregon State University Oceanography program. Her devotion to her students and to her science remain a model to those who followed her.
Inside the study, with her portrait, is the following inscription:
June Pattullo – oceanographer, scientist, scholar. She is best remembered as a teacher, chalk in hand, enthusiastically illustrating her remarks to colleagues. Busy as a major professor to 27 graduate students during her 11 years with the School of Oceanography at Oregon State University, she managed to publish regularly in professional journals, to be on the editorial board of the Journal of Physical Oceanography and to serve as vice-president of the Oceanographic section of the American Geophysical Union (1970-1972), where she was to become president had not death intervened.
Dr. Pattullo was a descriptive physical oceanographer, with a special interest in the coastal upwelling phenomenon off the coast of Oregon. Her investigations, and numerous data reports add immeasurably to the knowledge of the area and the phenomenon. Her inquiring mind led in many directions. She studied writing and public speaking to improve her own efforts and insisted that her students become good communicators as well as good scientists.
Some select publications:
Oceanic Heat Content off Oregon, its Variation and their Causes (with Wayne V. Burt and Sally Kulm) Limnology and Oceanography 14(2) 1960.
An Investigation of the Early Stage of Upwelling Along the Oregon Coast (with R.L. Smith and R.K. Lane) J. Geophysical Research 71(4) 1966.
Ocean Currents above the Continental Shelf off Oregon as Measured with a Single Array of Current Meters (with C.A. Collins) J. Marine Research 28(6) 1970.
A Comparison between Wind and Current Observations over the Continental Shelf off Oregon, Summer 1969 (with Adriana Jane Huyer) J. Geophysical Research 77(18) 1972.
Surface Currents off Oregon as Determined from Drift Bottle Returns (with Bruce Wyatt and Wayne V. Burt) J. Physical Oceanography 2(3) 1972.
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