Accession No.: 2006-41
PROCESSING RECORD
SCRIPPS INSTITUTION OF OCEANOGRAPHY ARCHIVES
Chow, Tsaihwa James 1924-2006
Tsaihwa James Chow Photographs and Film, 1935-1975
Physical Description: 1 manuscript box
Arrangement of Collection: Accession arranged in 2 series: 1. Photographs; 2. Films
Description: The accession includes approximately twenty snapshot photographs taken during
the period 1935 to 1962. Most document Tsaihwa James Chow during his student years at the
University of Washington. The accession also includes 10 color super 8mm films labeled Chow
S.I.O. These appear to have been made between 1960 and 1975.
Chow was an American chemical oceanographer born Tsai-Hwa Chow in Shanghai October 13,
1924. He changed his name to Tsaihwa James Chow upon emigration to the United States in
1948. Chow received a B.S. degree in 1946 from the National Chiaotung University in
Shanghai, an M.S. degree from Washington State University in 1949, and a Ph.D. degree from
the University of Washington in 1953. After leaving the University of Washington, he worked
with geochemist Clair Patterson at Caltech from 1955-1959. Chow joined the faculty of the
Scripps Institution of Oceanography in 1959 and remained until he became an emeritus
researcher in 1988. He was known for his studies of lead and lead isotopes in nature. He died in
La Jolla, California June 21, 2006.