Dr. Lawrence “Larry” Pratt is a physical oceanographer and Senior Scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) who has spent his career trying to understand one of the most powerful and mysterious forces on our planet—the movement of the ocean.
Dr. Pratt studies ocean currents, circulation, turbulence, deep-ocean flows, and the ways water moves between different parts of the world's oceans. His research has taken him to fascinating locations including the Red Sea and the Philippine and Indonesian Archipelagos, while also exploring major ocean systems such as the Gulf Stream and Kuroshio.
His work even uses chaos theory to understand the ocean. By combining physics, mathematics and computer modeling, Dr. Pratt investigates how swirling currents and eddies move heat, oxygen, nutrients and other materials throughout the sea.
His research has also helped investigate some surprising mysteries of marine life. Dr. Pratt and other WHOI scientists have studied how tiny American eel larvae travel from the Sargasso Sea toward North America and how ocean currents may help create suitable nursery environments for Atlantic bluefin tuna.
Dr. Pratt earned his Ph.D. through the prestigious MIT-WHOI Joint Program in Oceanography. Throughout his career, he has also helped educate and mentor the next generation of ocean scientists.
One particularly creative aspect of Dr. Pratt's career is his interest in connecting science with the arts. He has collaborated with dancers and choreographers—including projects involving the Boston Ballet—to use movement and dance as a way of communicating concepts such as waves, tides, currents and turbulent ocean eddies.
When Dr. Pratt joins us, students will have the opportunity to learn about careers in oceanography, how scientists study enormous ocean currents, what mysteries about our oceans remain unsolved, how mathematics and technology help us understand the sea, and how an interest in science can lead to a career exploring our planet.
