ST. PAUL  — What do an experimental domed city in Aitkin County, the Minneapolis skyway system, a device that helped locate enemy subs in World War II, and the National Sea Grant Program have in common?

They were all the brainchild of a far-sighted futurist and former University of Minnesota Dean named Athelstan Spilhaus, MPR News reported.

But that’s not all he’s done.

“He was part of the atomic bomb testing, he designed the Seattle World’s Fair science expo, and he wrote a syndicated comic strip for fun, as a hobby, for 15 years,” said Sharon Moen, communications coordinator for Minnesota Sea Grant and the author of a biography of Spilhaus called With Tomorrow in Mind: How Athelstan Spilhaus Turned America to the Future.

But, as it turns out, one of his less provocative ideas — the Sea Grant Program — may be his most enduring legacy. The program is celebrating its 50th anniversary this month.

Spilhaus conceived of it as a parallel to the land grant university system. He envisioned a future where we desalinated sea water for drinking, hybridized sea plants to produce sea fruits and vegetables, and farmed fish and even whales.