Alfred C. Redfield

Alfred Clarence Redfield (November 15, 1890 – March 17, 1983) was an American oceanographer known for having discovered the Redfield ratio, which describes the ratio between nutrients in plankton and ocean water. He was a professor of physiology at Harvard University and one of the original staff of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution upon its founding in 1930. From 1918 to 1924, Redfield worked with Elizabeth M. Bright on studies that involved the effects of radiation and Nereis. In collaboration the team published 12 papers.

During his doctoral research, he studied the mechanism of horned toad skin coloration, identifying adrenaline as the primary control of skin coloration. He later studied the effects of X rays and radium radiation on the physiological action.

Following his graduation, he went on to study marine biology. He studied hemocyanin, which is the blood pigment of many invertebrate species, which binds oxygen, and characterized its physiological behavior.

Redfield ratio During the 1930s, Redfield made his most important discovery. He discovered that the atomic ratios of the chemical components of phosphorus, nitrogen and carbon atoms are identical with their relative proportions in the open ocean. This idea was used to explain some characteristics of the carbon life cycle in the sea.

Personal life Redfield's married his first wife Elizabeth Pratt in 1913. In 1973 he received the Walker Prize in Natural History from the Museum of Science in Boston