Description (March 26, 2007)

NOAA - Celebrates 200 Years of Science, Service and Stewardship - In 1807, President Thomas Jefferson founded the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey to provide nautical charts to the maritime community for safe passage into American ports and along our extensive coastline. The Weather Bureau was founded 1870 and, one year later, the U.S. Commission of Fish and Fisheries was founded. Individually, these organizations were America's first physical science agency, America's first agency dedicated specifically to the atmospheric sciences, and America's first conservation agency. These three agencies were brought together in 1970, with the establishment of NOAA, an agency within the Department of Commerce. This website celebrates that history and its service to the nation.

Site in Depth / Curriculum Integration

• View the Collections featuring objects that have significance in marine history, research, human/sea interactions, or human understanding of the sea.
• For an in depth, comprehensive understanding of NOAA's history and accomplishments, review NOAA's Top Tens list, class groups can be assigned a category and can collaborate on presenting a summary of: The Top Ten Historic Events, the Top Ten History Makers, the Top Ten Breakthroughs, and the Foundation Data Sets and Products
• Discover Your World with NOAA: An Activity Book is a downloadable book of 43 activities designed to help kids learn about our planet and NOAA's role in exploring, understanding, and protecting Earth. The book can be downloaded in full or as individual activities.