Owen Martin Phillips (December 30, 1930 – October 13, 2010) was a U.S. physical oceanographer and geophysicist who spent most of his career at the Johns Hopkins University.
He majored in applied mathematics and physics, graduating with first-class honours in 1952 and sharing the John Coutts Prize for general proficiency in science with J.Stewart Turner.
[4][5] In later work he developed a mathematical theory that built on ideas of resonance for explaining how energy in waves was transferred from short to large scales.
He was awarded the 1974 Sverdrup Gold Medal of the American Meteorological Society "for his outstanding studies of both wave phenomena and turbulence in the upper ocean, and in particular for his contributions to the theory of ocean-wave generation.
"[7] In addition to primary area of scientific research, Phillips worked to synthesize knowledge within the broader field of geophysics in a number of books.