 This was an interdepartmental institution that drew its staff from the university's departments of physics, chemistry, bacteriology, botany and zoology.Two years later, as a result of Dr. Thompson's guidance, the university placed a small research vessel, "Catalyst", in service to perform inshore oceanographic work in the Pacific Northwest.Over the ensuing years, Dr. Thompson developed methods for the quantitative determination of many elements and ions in sea water e.g.