Henry M. Stommel; Oceanographer, Gulf Stream Theorist

Henry M. Stommel, 71, internationally recognized oceanographer who won the National Medal of Science. In the 1950s, Stommel theorized that the rotation of the Earth pushed the Gulf Stream westward along the North American coast and that its northerly flow must be balanced by a southerly flow of water deep beneath it. Much of his theory has been confirmed by other scientists. Stommel taught at Yale, Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and worked as a research associate at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on Cape Cod. On Friday in Boston of a heart attack.