The National Institute of Oceanography, founded on 1 January 1966 as one of 38 constituent laboratories of the CSIR, is a self-governing research organisation in India that conducts scientific research and studies on the unique oceanographic features of the Northern Indian Ocean. It is headquartered in Goa and has regional offices in Kochi, Mumbai, and Vizag. History By the 1950s, oceanographers all over the world realised that, while progress had been made in describing and understanding the observed features of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the Indian Ocean remained largely unexplored. It was critical to address fundamental oceanographic issues related to the northern Indian Ocean's monsoonal cycles, chemical properties of the water column, abundance and distribution of food resources such as fish productivity, and understanding the geology of the Indian Ocean through sea bed mapping and sampling. These are important not only to the global community of researchers, but also to the large population that lives in the countries surrounding the Indian Ocean in general, and the North Indian Ocean in particular. As a result, the international community of oceanographers organised the International Indian Ocean Expedition (IIOE) from 1959 to 1965 to describe and understand the basic features of the Indian Ocean. This expedition was enthusiastically supported by the Government of India. As the IIOE approached its conclusion, the government decided that the Indians who had participated in the expedition needed an institution where they could build on the oceanographic research skills they had learned during the expedition. The National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) was founded as a result of these considerations. Dr. N.K. Panikkar, Padma Shri, was appointed director of this institute, a position he held until his retirement in May 1973. Today, the institute employs approximately 170 scientists (sanctioned strength is 200), 120 of whom hold Ph.D.'s, 210 technical and support staff, and 120 administrative staff. The faculty and staff are spread across four campuses: Goa, Mumbai, Kochi, and Visakhapatnam. The main campus is in Dona Paula, Goa, where approximately 80% of the employees work. Research contribution A project on polymetallic nodules, which has been funded by the Government of India for over 25 years, is an example of the institute's dual role. By the late 1970s, the government had determined that the country's mineral resources of strategic importance needed to be expanded. NIO was tasked with exploring the oceans for this purpose. NIO recovered polymetallic nodules from