Reputations
and accomplishments
of organizations
are built on the
backs of individuals. An organization is the sum total of the values,
qualities, and spiritual and physical strength of the individuals
comprising its many elements. Hardware helps, but the real backbone
of any organization is its personnel.
NOAA
today is the result of those who passed before. As such, Profiles
in Time is a collection of biographical sketches of scientists, meteorologists,
engineers, laborers, geophysicists, observers, cartographers, secretaries,
mathematicians, instrument- makers, sailors, pilots, truck-drivers,
mechanics, carpenters, and all of the other individuals and occupations
that comprised the Coast Survey and Weather Bureau in their various
names and organizational structures.
This
small assemblage of names and lives is but a sampler of the thousands
of dedicated individuals who have served in these organizations since
its inception. However, in perusing their adventures and accomplishments,
perhaps the reader will come to understand that organizations such
as NOAA have a spiritual heritage that inspires those who continue
traveling along the path of those who went before.
