HOF 1963 Dr. Craig Taylor
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Dr. Craig Taylor
Graduated from McEwen High School in 1963
lettered in track
was class officer
member of student council
participated in science fairs and competitions (it is in high school where his lifelong interest in science began)
during his freshmen year he won the high school science fair by assembling a chicken skeleton from a bird that had died on his farm
He also had a love for all things mechanical, having constructed a hot rod from parts he collected and assembled in his father's farm shop
it would be the combining of his love for science and mechanics that make him one of the leading reserach oceanographers in the world today
He grew up on a farm north of Athena on Waterman Road with family roots that run deep in Umatilla County
his great grandfather was Sheriff Till Taylor who in July 1920 was mortally wounded by a group of prisoners in a jail break
Till Taylor Park is named for him in Pendleton
Following graduation, he went to Eastern Oregon University
He then transferred to Portland State University receiving a BS in 1967 and a masters in 1969
He continued his education with a second masters at the University of Illinois in 1971, then a Microbiology PhD in 1973
It was at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts that he did his postdoctoral studies
He never left Woods Hole, spending his entire professional career at this world-famous research institution
from 1982-2015 he held the position of tenured Associated Scientist
since 2015 he holds the prestigious position of Emeritus Resident Scholar
over the course of his career he has had 70 peer-reviewed publications
on such published work was titled "Sampling Apparatus for Collecting Samples from Underwater Hydrothermal Vents and the Marine or Limnological Water Column" shows the complexity of his research
his research interests include:
Ecology and physiology of marine sulfur-oxidizing microorganisms
development of automated instrumentation for the time-series measurement ofchemical and biological properties in oceanic and coastal environments
instrumentation for collection of contamination and exogenous DNA-free microbial samples
dynamics and microbiology of oceanic carbon monoxideoxidation.
one his more famous inventions was the Submersible Incubation Device or SID
such a device was needed to do some very important research but it didn't exist so he designed and built it
he combined his technical skills and his scientific understanding to build the SID
he stated "it takes time to evolve an instrument that really can withstand the ocean, and for scientists to realize the value of it. Scientist need the kind of information these machines provide. Now their need coincides with the technology, which has matured to the point where it is actually useful."
this is but one example of the accomplishments of 2 decades of research and technology Dr Craig Taylor has contributed to the field of Science
