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NOAA’s
roots are planted in this oldest of American science  agencies.
The Coast Survey was authorized by Congress and President Thomas Jefferson
in 1807. From the Coast Survey has flowed much of the structure and
the manner of conducting modern American science. The Coast Survey was
founded by Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler, a Swiss immigrant, who built an
embryonic Coast Survey from the ground up. He brought together mathematicians,
cartographers, geodesists, metrologists, hydrographers, topographers,
sailors, laborers, and administrators and molded them into a coherent
organization having the goal of surveying the coast of the United States.
During the evolution of this organization, it became the first United
States Government agency to collect masses of geographic information,
develop means to process that information, and produce products for
the safety and welfare of the citizens of our Nation. The Coast Survey
was the first Government agency to develop mathematical models for predicting
future states of geophysical phenomena such as tides, currents, and
geomagnetic declination. It was instrumental in the formation of the
Smithsonian Institution and the National Academy of Sciences and the
establishment of their early policies. It was the first Federal science
agency to fight many of the political battles involving the proper place
of science in a democratic society. Join the Coast Surveyors as they
build the foundation of American physical science….
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