Places, People, Tools : Oceanography in The Mediterranean and BeyondProceedings of the Eighth International Congress for the History of OceanographyPubblicazioni della Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, IVThe eighth International Congress for the History of Oceanography, or ICHO VIII, was held during the summer of 2008 in Naples, Italy. Generously hosted by the Stazione Zoologica, it maintained a long tradition of meeting in a setting that had served historically and contemporaneously as an important site for oceanographic work, joining earlier meetings in Monaco (1966), Edinburgh (1972), Woods Hole (1980), Hamburg (1987), La Jolla (1993), Quindao (1999), and Kaliningrad (2003). With the theme of “Places, People, Tools: Oceanography in the Mediterranean and Beyond” the congress attracted scholars contributing to discussions of oceanography in its national and institutional contexts, of leading contributors to oceanographic research, of the emergence of new oceanographic tools, and of selected oceanographic expeditions. All these presentations featured fresh historical perspectives, especially on oceanography within the Mediterranean basin.