William G. Van Dorn was educated in engineering at Stanford University and holds a PhD in physical oceanography from the University of California. His industrial experience with Northrup, Solar, and Aero Jet Engineering corporations included work on stress analysis and the design and testing of airframes and rockets.

For more than thirty years, Van Dorn was associated with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California, participating in most of the Pacific nuclear tests. He also served as chief of the Island Observatory Program during the International Geophysical Year. As a research oceanographer emeritus at UCSD, Van Dorn continues to pursue and publish his scientific research. In addition to Oceanography and Seamanship, Second Edition, Van Dorn has authored more than one hundred scientific papers and reports.