CSULB Shark Lab Founder was Inspiration for "Jaws" Scientist

Cal State Long Beach Shark Lab founder, Donald Nelson, was featured as the real-life inspiration for the scientist, Matt Hooper, a character inthe movie Jaws, according to the online magazine Mental Floss. The magazine reported that Steven Spielberg visited the Shark Lab in the early 1970's and used Professor Nelson to help create Hooper's character.