Mary Sears (1905–1997) was an American oceanographer and plankton researcher involved in WHOI’s early development. She organised wartime oceanographic intelligence and later edited major journals and promoted international scientific exchange.
Sears studied at Radcliffe, earning a zoology doctorate in 1933 and working with Henry Bigelow during graduate study. She began plankton research at WHOI in 1932 and later became a year-round scientific staff member.
In 1943 she organised and headed a new oceanographic unit at the US Navy Hydrographic Office. Its analyses addressed conditions affecting navigation and submarines; reports on thermoclines helped assess sound propagation and layers in which submarine detection was more difficult.
She helped establish Deep-Sea Research and Progress in Oceanography and edited the former from 1953 to 1974. She also chaired preparations for the first International Oceanographic Congress in 1959, connecting specialists through editing, reference work and meetings.