BBSR The First Century (PDF)

In 1896, the idea of establishing a station in Bermuda for research in biology and zoology was first considered, and, in 1903, scientists from Harvard University, New York University and the Bermuda Natural History Society together established a marine biological station at Flatts Inlet. BIOS was incorporated in New York in 1926 as a U.S. not-for-profit organization. In 1932, the Bermuda Government and the Rockefeller Foundation joined forces to provide facilities and a modest endowment, and BIOS opened at its present location on Ferry Reach. During these early years, BIOS was primarily a summer operation, used by university professors and their students from the United States.

After the Second World War, BIOS became a year-round research center, starting in 1954 with the establishment of Hydrostation "S": regular, repeated deep-sea observations that continue today, creating the longest continuous oceanic database in the world. Over the next few decades, increasing numbers of visiting scientists brought an increased emphasis on biological and geological studies. The Bermuda Government established a monitoring program of Bermuda's inshore waters and marine communities which continues today.

Resident scientific programs strengthened in the 1980s as BIOS became a key link in an international effort to describe and understand the ocean/atmosphere system on a global scale. BIOS is now one of two U.S. centers for time-series studies on temporal variability in the ocean and the impact of the ocean on global climate change, under the auspices of the Joint Global Ocean Flux Study.