John Thomas O'Brien, 90, of Honolulu and Woodstock, Ill, first director of the Look Laboratory for the University of Hawaii, died Thursday in Woodstock. JOHN THOMAS O'BRIEN /
OCEAN ENGINEERHe led UH’s ocean lab
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to global prominenceBy Helen Altonn
haltonn@starbulletin.com"He was extremely productive and ran the laboratory on a high and professional plane," said Hans-Jurgen Krock, researcher who currently directs the laboratory.
The laboratory was established by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1963 to study tsunamis in Hilo Bay.
The study evaluated if a weather barrier could be built to protect Hilo "and concluded that it could but nobody would really want it because it would basically be a monster," Krock recalled.
The Corps turned the laboratory over to the UH several years later and O'Brien became director, serving until 1977.
The laboratory formed the basis for the UH ocean engineering department, Krock said.
O'Brien served in the Army Reserve, earning two Bronze Stars during World War II. He was a University of Minnesota graduate and a world renowned ocean engineer.
He specialized in "Waves, Wind and Data" at Look Laboratory, at the California institute of Technology and Port Huenume in California.
Under his leadership, Look Laboratory made model studies of most major features of Hawaii's coastline, including Barber's Point Harbor, the reef runway, Kuhio Beach and various other features of coastal barriers and beach erosion questions, Krock said.
Studies were done on sand mining for beach replenishment, effects of hurricanes and tsunamis, prediction of runup of tsunami waves and work related to ocean thermal energy conversion, he said.
"The laboratory actually became internationally known through the efforts of Mr. O'Brien because he made arrangements with similar kinds of laboratories all over the world for exchange of research papers and scholars."
O'Brien loved opera and world travel with his wife, Ada Marie Bennett O'Brien, formerly of Honolulu, now of Woodstock.
Survivors, besides his wife, include a son, John T. O'Brien Jr. of Falls Church, Va., a daughter, Nancy O'Brien Phillips of Woodstock, three grandchildren, Ben III Mathew and Owen Phillips, all of Woodstock, and a brother, Ken O'Brien of Edina, Minn.
A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. June 25 at St. Ann's Episcopal Church, 503 W. Jackson St., in Woodstock. Memorials may be made in his name to the University of Minnesota School of Engineering.