Val Worthington

{{Infobox scientist | name = Val Worthington | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Lawrence Valentine Worthington | birth_date = {{Birth date |1920|03|06}} | birth_place = Chelsea, London, England | death_date = {{Death date and age |1995|2|10|1920|3|06}} | death_place = Abacos, Bahamas | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | other_names = | residence = | citizenship = United States of America, United Kingdom | nationality = | fields = physical oceanography | workplaces = Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) | alma_mater = Princeton University (1938–1941) | thesis_title = | thesis_url = | thesis_year = | doctoral_advisor = | academic_advisors = | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | known_for = | influences = | influenced = | awards = | spouse = Ruth Worthington (née McGuinness) | children = 1 daughter Jill Worthington, 1 son Lawrence Worthington | religion = }}

'''Lawrence Valentine Worthington '''(March 6, 1920 – February 10, 1995), better known as '''Val''' '''Worthington''' was a British-American physical oceanographer. His most noted contributions are the discovery of mode water which he called ''18° water'', first published in a research journal in May 1959,<ref>{{cite journal|last=Worthington|first=L.V.|date=May 1959|title=The 18 water in the Sargasso Sea|journal=Deep-Sea Research|volume=2|issue=2–4|pages=297–305|doi=10.1016/0146-6313(58)90026-1}}</ref> and confirming the existence of as well as producing the first recording of the sound of the sperm whale<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Worthington|first1=L. V.|last2=Schevill|first2=William E.|date=1957-08-01|title=Underwater Sounds heard from Sperm Whales|url=http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1957Natur.180..291W|journal=Nature|volume=180|issue=4580|pages=291|doi=10.1038/180291a0|bibcode=1957Natur.180..291W|s2cid=4173897 |issn=0028-0836|doi-access=free}}</ref>

== Early life == Worthington was born on March 6, 1920, in Chelsea, London, England. He attended and graduated from Westminster School in 1938. He came to the United States that year and enrolled at Princeton University, which he attended from 1938 to 1941.

== Career == In 1941 Worthington’s career at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution began when he joined the staff as a bathythermograph technician. He took a military leave in 1943 to serve in the U.S. Navy and returned to WHOI in 1946 as a hydrographic technician working to describe Gulf Stream meanders and ring formation.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Fuglister|first1=F. C.|last2=Worthington|first2=L. V.|date=1951-01-01|title=Some Results of a Multiple Ship Survey of the Gulf Stream|journal=Tellus|volume=3|issue=1|pages=1–14|doi=10.3402/tellusa.v3i1.8614|issn=0040-2826|doi-access=free}}</ref> In 1950 he was appointed a physical oceanographer and in 1951 was named a research associate. Worthington was appointed a senior scientist in the Physical Oceanography Department in 1963, and served as department chairman from 1974 to 1981. He retired in 1982 and was named a scientist emeritus that year.

== Research == Worthington conducted his research out at sea on various vessels such as {{RV|Atlantis II}}, DSV Alvin and {{RRS|Discovery II}}. Worthington’s research interests included Atlantic circulation, deep water circulation, the Caribbean Sea, the Kuroshio Current and water mass formation. His research attributions include disproval of the existence of the American Scout seamount,<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Backus|first1=Richard H.|last2=Worthington|first2=L.V.|date=August 1965|title=On the existence of the Seamont known as "American Scout"|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0011-7471(65)90399-2|journal=Deep Sea Research and Oceanographic Abstracts|volume=12|issue=4|pages=457–IN6|doi=10.1016/0011-7471(65)90399-2|issn=0011-7471|url-access=subscription}}</ref> measurements of deep currents in the western North Atlantic,<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=SWALLOW|first1=J. C.|last2=WORTHINGTON|first2=L. V.|date=June 1957|title=Measurements of Deep Currents in the Western North Atlantic|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/1791183b0|journal=Nature|volume=179|issue=4571|pages=1183–1184|doi=10.1038/1791183b0|s2cid=4207059 |issn=0028-0836|url-access=subscription}}</ref> oceanographic measurements of the Caribbean Sea,<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Worthington|first=L.V.|date=August 1966|title=Recent oceanographic measurements in the Caribbean Sea|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0011-7471(66)90603-6|journal=Deep Sea Research and Oceanographic Abstracts|volume=13|issue=4|pages=731–739|doi=10.1016/0011-7471(66)90603-6|issn=0011-7471|url-access=subscription}}</ref> measurements of vertical water movement in the Cayman Basin,<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Webb|first1=D.C.|last2=Worthington|first2=L.V.|date=October 1968|title=Measurements of vertical water movement in the Cayman Basin|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0011-7471(68)90066-1|journal=Deep Sea Research and Oceanographic Abstracts|volume=15|issue=5|pages=609–612|doi=10.1016/0011-7471(68)90066-1|issn=0011-7471|url-access=subscription}}</ref> confirming the existence of deep currents in the Labrador Sea,<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Swallow|first1=J.C.|last2=Worthington|first2=L.V.|date=February 1969|title=Deep currents in the Labrador Sea|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0011-7471(69)90052-7|journal=Deep Sea Research and Oceanographic Abstracts|volume=16|issue=1|pages=77–84|doi=10.1016/0011-7471(69)90052-7|issn=0011-7471|url-access=subscription}}</ref> confirming the existence of large cyclonic rings from the northeast Sargasso Sea,<ref>{{Cite book|last1=McCartney|first1=Michael S.|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1575/1912/10632|title=Large cyclonic rings from the northeast Sargasso Sea|last2=Worthington|first2=L. Valentine|last3=Schmitz|first3=William J.|date=1978|publisher=Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution|location=Woods Hole, MA|doi=10.1575/1912/10632}}</ref> a census of Gulf Stream rings,<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Richardson|first1=P. L.|last2=Cheney|first2=R. E.|last3=Worthington|first3=L. V.|date=1978|title=A census of Gulf Stream rings, spring 1975|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/jc083ic12p06136|journal=Journal of Geophysical Research|volume=83|issue=C12|pages=6136|doi=10.1029/jc083ic12p06136|issn=0148-0227|hdl=1912/10394|hdl-access=free|url-access=subscription}}</ref> and a census on the water masses of the world ocean.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Worthington|first=L.V.|title=The water masses of the world ocean: some results of a fine-scale census, in Evolution of Physical Oceanography, Scientific Surveys in Honor of Henry Stommel, Bruce A. Warren and Carl Wunsch, eds.|publisher=MIT Press|year=1981|isbn=|location=Cambridge, Ma|pages=42–69}}</ref>

== Later life and legacy == After Worthington’s retirement in 1982 colleagues at WHOI wrote a tribute to him entitled ''“Kanpū Soka: Cold Wind Two Gyres”'' a rough english translation for a nickname given to Worthington by colleagues Hideo Kawai and Susumu Honjo based on his controversial North Atlantic gyre theory. The 860 page collection’s publication was paid for by the National Science Foundation, the Office of Naval Research, and by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2u0QyAEACAAJ|title=Kanpū Soka: Cold Wind-Two Gyres : a Tribute to Val Worthington|date=1982|publisher=Printed in U.S.A. for the Sears Foundation for Marine Research, Yale University [by] Van Dyck Print. Company|language=en}}</ref>

Soon after his retirement a species of copepod was named in honor of Worthington. ''Paracandacia worthingtoni'', found at that time only in the South Pacific, was described by biologist George Grice in the Bulletin of the Plankton Society of Japan in 1981.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Grice|first=G. D. (Woods Hole Oceanographic Inst (USA))|date=1981|title=Paracandacia worthingtoni, a new species of calanoid copepoda from the Pacific Ocean|url=https://agris.fao.org/agris-search/search.do?recordID=JP8205244|journal=Bulletin of Plankton Society of Japan (Japan)|language=English|issn=0387-8961}}</ref> The classification was changed to follow the accepted genus and therefore became ''Candacia worthingtoni''<ref>{{Cite web|title=WoRMS – World Register of Marine Species – Candacia worthingtoni (Grice, 1981)|url=http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=346243#links|access-date=2020-11-28|website=www.marinespecies.org}}</ref>

Worthington died on February 10, 1995, in the Abaco, Bahamas at the age of 74.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Valentine Worthington|url=https://www.whoi.edu/press-room/obituary/valentine-worthington/|access-date=2020-11-29|website=www.whoi.edu/|language=en-US|archive-date=2020-12-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201209001313/https://www.whoi.edu/press-room/obituary/valentine-worthington/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

== References == <references />

{{DEFAULTSORT:Worthington, Valentine}} Category:British oceanographers Category:1920 births Category:1995 deaths Category:People from Chelsea, London Category:Scientists from London Category:Sperm whales Category:People educated at Westminster School, London Category:Princeton University alumni Category:Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Category:Physical oceanographers Category:British emigrants to the United States