NOAA Heritage Week 2026

Centuries of Science

NOAA's Foundations

Notable People

Momentous Milestones

Academic Resources

The National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration (NOAA) and its predecessors have a long history of service to the United States of America and its people. Dive into NOAA’s rich history, culture, and traditions during "NOAA Heritage Week 2026: Centuries of Science", a week-long celebration of more than two centuries of NOAA science, service, and stewardship on behalf of the American public.

NOAA: Centuries of Science Speaker Series

If you missed our live presentations for NOAA Heritage Week 2026, they'll be available for on-demand viewing shortly.

Topics include the Great Miami Hurricane of 1926, a marvellous tide-predicting machine known as Brass Brains, the history and conservation of the American Civil War ironclad USS Monitor, luminaries from NOAA's past, and more.

The Great Miami Hurricane of 1926: 100 Years of Hurricane Forecasting and Research

The USS Monitor, Part 1: History and Legacy

The bow of the iconic Civil War ironclad Monitor resting on the seafloor off North Carolina.

The origins of NOAA’s National Ocean Service | NOAA Ocean Podcast

Official seal of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey featuring an eagle, shield, anchors, globe, and the year 1807.

A collage of postcards representing each NOAA predecessor and their foundation dates.

NOAA Heritage

Visit the main NOAA Heritage page to see all of our stories!

Do you NOAA our history?

Take this quiz to test yourself and find out!

Friday Finds

Discover historic gems laying around NOAA's “attic.”

Oral History Project

Documenting the history and legacy of NOAA through compelling interviews with its leaders.

Deep Dives

In-depth stories about NOAA's history and heritage.

History of NOAA Timeline

1970-1979

Secretary of Commerce Maurice H. Stans signs the department orders needed to put NOAA in operation on October 3, 1970. Dr. White is standing over Sec. Stans’ left shoulder.

1980-1989

U.S. Senators Warren Magnuson (D-WA) and Ted Stevens (R-AK) authored the original Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA) in 1976.

1990-1999

2000-2009

2010-2020

A photo taken at the spill source during the Deepwater Horizon response.

Our history

NOAA's roots reach back more than 200 years

A weather kite being prepared for launching with kite-reel house in the background.

History of the National Weather Service

NWS Local Office History Links

Plane table topography in Prince William Sound area

National Geodetic Survey History

U.S. Coast & Geodetic Survey History

A black and white photo of the original Woods Hole, MA lab building with renovations, 1875. A crate housing a piano is visible on the horse-drawn carriage at right.

NOAA Fisheries: Our History

First U.S. Fish Commissioner Spencer Baird (on shore, at right) and colleagues seining in Little Harbor, Woods Hole, circa 1875. Credit: NOAA Fisheries/NEFSC Historical Collection.

History of NOAA Fisheries in the Northeast

O. E. Sette, Director of the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries Laboratory in 1929, examining larval mackerel.

Historical Development of Fisheries Science and Management

An artist's rendition of a NOAA polar-orbiting satellite. These satellites circle the earth in a north-south orbit, passing close to both poles.

OAR Global Systems Laboratory: Our History

Nicholas Johnson, a 2018 NOAA Hollings scholar, stands in front of the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratories sign in Miami, Florida.

OAR Atlantic Oceanographic & Meteorological Laboratory: Our History

Three people are underwater scuba diving. One person is holding up a sign that says "underwater graduation". Another person is handing over a sign to a third person that says "Alexis Putney" and looks like a diploma.

History: Timeline: NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research

Graphic of early GOES satellite in orbit, circa 1975.

History of NOAA Satellites

The Point Arena lighthouse watches over the northern part of Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary. Greater Farallones expanded in 2015 to encompass more than 3,000 square miles off the coast of California, including the rich upwelling zone that originates off of Point Arena and flows south.

National Marine Sanctuaries: A Journey Through Time

Black and white photo of the crew of the USC&GSS Lydonia on deck. There are four rows of crewmen.

Office of Marine and Aviation Operations & NOAA Corps: Our History

In 1882, work on the first research vessel ever constructed exclusively for fisheries research, Albatross, was started.

The history of NOAA's fleet

Fisheries scientist Bell Shimada holding a Galapagos Penguin, which are found in the Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean. Bell was a pioneer in approaching fisheries science from an overarching ecological viewpoint.

The life and legacy of Dr. Bell M. Shimada

Black and white portrait of George Brown Goode, American ichthyologist and second United States Commissioner of Fisheries.

Meet the scientist who helped kick-start U.S. fish and fisheries research

Gamechangers

10 women who broke barriers at NOAA

A map from John P. Finley’s booklet, “Tornadoes. What they are and how to observe them; with practical suggestions for the protection of life and property.” showing the path of the Enigma outbreak of tornadoes on February 19, 1884. The path winds through the Northern states of the U.S.

John Park Finley, America’s first tornado forecaster

A view from the flight deck of a NOAA WP-3D Hurricane Hunter aircraft as the team flies into Hurricane Harvey on August 24, 2017.

Meet some of NOAA’s past and present hurricane researchers

1951: Rachel Carson at the dock in Woods Hole, MA.

Rachel Carson: Marine biologist and writer who was part of the Great Environmental Awakening movement

Black and white portrait of Dr. George Washington Carver

The Legacy of Dr. George Washington Carver

Thin sections of portraits of Benjamin Franklin, Benjamin Banneker, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Eunice Newton Foote lined up next to each other.

5 citizen scientists of the 18th and 19th centuries

A look at some of America’s earliest citizen scientists

A black and white photo of Ensign Pamela Chelgren being sworn in by Secretary of Commerce Peter G. Peterson on July 6, 1972. Her father, Navy Captain John Chelgren, stands between them, holding the Bible for the ceremony.

Commander Pamela Chelgren: First female officer in the NOAA Corps

"I am more interested in the challenge of the job itself, than I am in being a 'first'." - CMDR Pamela Chelgren speaking in 1972

A black and white photo of a portrait in which a young Maria Mitchell peering through a telescope. 1852.

Maria Mitchell: America’s first female astronomer

“First, no woman should say, 'I am but a woman!' But a woman! What more can you ask to be?” - Maria Mitchell

Rear Admiral Evelyn fields was the first woman and first African American to lead the NOAA Corps.

Evelyn Fields: A trailblazer

Louis W. Uccellini, former director of the U.S. National Weather Service

A look back with Dr. Louis W. Uccellini

The former Weather Service director's federal career spanned 43 years

Dr. Ambrose Jearld worked at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center for nearly 40 years. He dedicated his career to diversity in science.

Envisioning diversity in science with Dr. Ambrose Jearld

A career dedicated to a more representative workforce at NOAA

Meet Rear Admiral Harley Nygren: First director of the NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps

Meet artist, conservationist, and NOAA friend Jim Toomey, creator of Sherman’s Lagoon

Georgia Madrid, Equal Opportunity Specialist for NOAA Research in Boulder, Colorado.

Empowering Native Communities with Georgia Madrid

An advocate and voice at NOAA for Native American issues

An X9 flare, which can be seen in the lower half of the sun, captured by GOES-19’s Solar Ultraviolet Imager (SUVI) instrument on Oct. 3, 2024.

Five historically huge solar events

Three people wearing life preservers standing with large spherical yellow buoys on a boat in the ocean

Buoyed by the Mission: The People and Work Behind Your Florida Keys Mooring Buoys

A gorgonian coral (Muricea pendula). A bright pink, branched coral.

From threat to threatened: A brief history of coral reef research

Postcard of the U.S. Weather Bureau Building at Charles City, Iowa. c. 1900. Note the Weather Forecast Flag system flags flown on the flag pole mounted on the roof. They appear to be the blue flag with a black pennant above, indicating a forecast of higher temperatures and rain.

Hoist a flag for cold waves and other weather conditions

Front of the drift card found in Scotland on October 22, 2024.

Drift Card Used to Track 1976 Oil Spill Found – 48 Years Later

National Marine Sanctuary System Map showing the locations of all 17 National Marine Sanctuaries and both marine monuments.

How NOAA's sanctuaries got their names

Centerfold from the Test Kitchen circular, “FISH RECIPES from the GREAT LAKES,” featuring several plates of different fish recipes.

Taste test: Fisheries recipes from the 1950s & 1960s

A ticket from a 1996 screening of the movie, “Twister,” superimposed over a tornado blowing through a large field.

A career twist of fate?

How Hollywood helped inspire a new generation of meteorologists

An artist's rendering of the GOES-U satellite in space, with the Earth to its left and the Sun to its right.

Cool imagery from the GOES satellite series, a retrospective

Billy the bear cub, a pet on the USC&GSS Gedney, makes a mess as he drinks from a can.

All paws on deck! Check out these furry friends from our former ships

This colorful photo shows reporters filming Hurricane Specialist Richard Pasch making a hurricane conference call with the National Weather Service New Orleans/Baton Rouge Office during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. On the right, a man sits on one of a bank of phones with his back to us. Reporters with cameras and microphones crowd around the table.

Hurricane hotline phones: A direct line to 20th-century weather forecasting

Still from Earth from Orbit video featuring NOAA satellite imagery from Earth Day 2024 to Earth Day 2025.

Celebrating Earth Day with NOAA Satellites

A black and white photo of a tornado with multiple vortices, one in the center, which reaches to the ground and a smaller one on either side which do not reach the ground.

Here's one of the first photos of a tornado ever

Photo of a plaque that reads, "About 600 meters East of this location lies the oldest triangulation station in America, Buttermilk 1833, Buttermilk Hill, This plaque is established as a bicentennial commemoration through the cooperation of: The Rockafeller Family, The Nation Geodetic Survey of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, American Congress on Surveying and Mapping, The Westchester-Putnam Association of Professional Land Surveyors, Incorporated, 1976"

Celebrating National Surveyors Week with Buttermilk

Photo of the “Coastline” wave pool art installation outside NOAA’s Silver Spring, MD campus. Waves crash against a rough stone wall in a long rectangular pool.

Coastlines: Making waves outside, and inside, NOAA

A collage of the five images from the NOAA heritage story, "Five significant moments in climate history."

Five significant moments in climate science history

Three photos of the 1880s silk bustle dress in which crumpled bits of paper containing a code were found. The back, front, and left side are shown in a triptych. The dress is a deep peach color with a striped placket on the front and a large bustle. The pocket where the code was found is located under the overskirt at the right hip.

'Cryptogram' in a silk dress tells a weather story

Was this silk dress worn by an early employee of the National Weather Service? Mystery code in the pocket tells a story about early forecasting.

Photo of the Portland Head Light in Cape Elizabeth, ME. The white lighthouse with a black top stands on a small promontory next to a white house with green trim and a red roof.

5 ways historic lighthouses and modern science come together at NOAA

Lightning in North Dakota: July 5, 2014.

Lightning detection: From ground to sky

How the study of lightning went from earthbound to a bird’s eye view

Tornado Intercept: The Union City Twister and the Birth of Doppler Radar

NOAA Corps Basic Officer Training Class (BOTC) 134 poses for their class photo. They all wear the NOAA Corps dress whites.

The long evolution of the NOAA Corps uniform

106 years of the NOAA Corps uniform, shown in photos

A U.S. Coast & Geodetic Survey (USC&GS) cap sits on a dark wooden background. The black cap is shaped like a beret with a wide band at the bottom. On the band, "U.S. C. & G. SURVEY" is written in gold.

Our curator’s favorite object: U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey cap

The Hand of NOAA sits outside the NOAA buildings in Silver Spring, MD. It is a hand several feet taller than a person reaching up with it's fingers outstretched to release four seagulls and is surrounded by small bushes.

On International Sculpture Day, celebrating art in NOAA’s front yard

32 years of the Hand of NOAA

Map of Category 5 - March 1993, Mid-Atlantic/New England

How a historic storm swept in a new era in forecasting

Thirty years ago, NWS issued an unprecedented 5-day forecast.

A drawing of the HYDROLAB, showing a cross section of the inside. Two people are inside the Hydrolab, one at the lab and the other in the moon pool.

How NOAA’s first undersea lab helped scientists study corals

It All Started in a Shed

On December 15, 1976, the Liberian tanker Argo Merchant ran aground on Nantucket Shoals, off the Massachusetts coast, in high winds and ten foot seas. Its destination was Salem, Mass., where the tanker was scheduled to deliver a winter's supply of fuel to a local power plant.

History of oil spill response at NOAA

Celebrating 60 Years of the World’s First Weather Satellite

NOAA employees receive cash rewards for superior service on October 23, 1970.

A blast from the past: Life at NOAA in 1970

Read: The welcome letter from NOAA's first administrator

Dr. Kelly Gleason investigates a ginger jar at the Two Brothers shipwreck site at French Frigate Shoals.

Shipwreck in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands makes history – again

How an ill-fated sea captain and his ship inspired one of the world’s most famous writers

Two scuba divers with lights and a camera explore a shipwreck.

Maritime Heritage

Cover of the first issue of NOAA Magazine, released in January 1971.

NOAA Magazine (1977-1986, 2001-2007)

Cover of the first issue of NOAA News, published in December 1976.

NOAA News (1976-1981)

The first issue of NOAA Week, published in October 1970.

NOAA Week (1971-1976)

A 3x6 grid of labeled images of the different types of paleoclimatology data available: boorhole, cave, coral, fauna, fire history, forcing, historical, ice cores, insect, lake, lake levels, loess, paleo modeling, paleocean, plant macros, pollen, reconstructions, tree ring

Historical data resources

Cover of A History of NOAA, compiled by Eileen L. Shea, NOAA representative to the Department of Commerce Historical Council, 1987.

A History of NOAA (PDF)

First page of BOTTLES, POTS, & PANS? – MARKING THE SURVEYS OF THE U.S. COAST & GEODETIC SURVEY AND NOAA, by CDR George E. Leigh, NOAA Corps (Ret’d.)

Bottles, Pots, & Pans? – Marking the Surveys of the U.S. Coast & Geodetic Survey and NOAA (PDF)

Circle surveyed around the U.S. Naval Observatory by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (USC&GS) for the purpose of “guarding the delicate astronomical instruments at the U.S. Naval Observatory against smoke or currents of heated air in their neighborhood, and undue vibrations from traffic upon the extension of public thoroughfares in the vicinity...”

THE CIRCLE: Surveying the U.S. Naval Observatory, 1895 (PDF)

Scientists sorting bottom-dwelling creatures at the Woods Hole BCFBiological Laboratory

Fisheries Heritage Collections

Fisheries History Publications

NOAA in Space Digital Collection

Legislative History of the National Marine Sanctuaries Act

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