About Ed Ricketts

History of Ecological Sciences, Part 58A: Marine Ecology, mid‐1920s to about 1990, Featuring Beebe, Bigelow, Ricketts

“…In his will, he left his notebooks to Hopkins Marine Station; Steinbeck purged their non‐biological content before turning them over (Steinbeck :lii). Ricketts’ notes and other writings for a third volume are now published (Hedgpeth , Rodger , ).…”

“…In 1958, Monterey named a street Cannery Row, to honor John Steinbeck's novel, set at Ricketts’ laboratory and the canneries. Steinbeck (:xiii–xiv) described Ricketts’ laboratory, between two canneries that canned sardines.…”

“…Most prominent Ricketts friends were novelist John Steinbeck (1902–1968) and mythology scholar Joseph Campbell (1904–1987). Ricketts had a strong influence on their thinking; indeed, he was the strongest influence on Steinbeck (Steinbeck :x, Benson :183). Ricketts was junior author of The Sea of Cortez (Steinbeck and Ricketts ), with Steinbeck as senior author (Shillinglaw and Gilly ).…”

“…This discussion has not yet been incorporated into philosophy textbooks. After Ricketts died, Steinbeck () wrote an essay, “About Ed Ricketts,” in which he stated, “We worked and thought together very closely for a number of years so that I grew to depend on his knowledge and on his patience in research” (Steinbeck and Wallsten :315).…”