URI_Research_Magazine_2011-2012_Melissa-McCarthy

Big Discoveries Big History

Professor Robert Ballard’s quest to enable anyone — and everyone — to enjoy the wonders of underwater exploration has become a reality since he’s joined the faculty at the University of Rhode Island (URI). A world-renowned oceanographer, who is probably best known for discovering the Titanic in 1985, Ballard has always combined groundbreaking technology with ocean science. Before coming to URI, he helped to pioneer the use of submersible robots and deep-diving submarines to explore ocean depths hitherto off limits to man. In the process, he discovered the German battleship Bismarck , the USS Yorktown and what is believed to be the remains of John F. Kennedy’s PT-109 , among other historically significant wrecks. As a scientist with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, he was also part of a French-American team, which in 1974 explored an underwater mountain range called the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and, in particular, its central rift valley. That expedition, called Project FAMOUS, was the first to document seafloor spreading, the process that results from the shifting of tectonic plates deep below the ocean’s surface. “No one had actually gone to the boundary of creation where the Earth creates its outer skin,” Ballard said. Man was going to the moon, but hadn’t thought to explore the Earth’s

largest feature, said Ballard, sounding a favorite theme of his — that the world’s oceans are vastly unexplored and thus deserving of research dollars. Later in the 1970s, working in the Galapagos Islands, Ballard and his team discovered hydrothermal vents in the Pacific Ocean, which were replete with exotic life forms never seen before. These creatures, which live in and around the deep–sea vents, derive their energy from the earth, not from the sun, and are among the most fascinating sights he has observed in his long career, Ballard said. That’s saying a lot considering Ballard has been on 130 underwater expeditions. They include red-tipped tube worms that can expand to 10 feet long and foot-long mussels and clams. “We made a tremendous series of discoveries,” said Ballard. And yet, that was only the first phase of Ballard’s career. What happened next has taken underwater exploration to another level entirely and has made URI’s Graduate School of Oceanography even more world-famous than it already was. According to Ballard, it began one day in 1981, when he was walking down a hallway at the National Geographic Society in Washington, D.C. He had a vision of a deep-sea robot exploring the ocean floor and sending images, via satellite, to observers on land enabling them to participate in the exploration in real time. “I just envisioned it,” said Ballard, pulling out a graphic he made back then National Geographic Magazine published a story in its December 1981 issue about Ballard’s futuristic dream, which for the scientist and educator tied together his deep love for underwater exploration and his desire, just as deep, to share it with everyone. He once described his goal this way: “Why not take people who will never go there themselves to this world and let them see these wonders of the underwater world and help protect them for future generations.” So began a quest that took 28 years to realize, but which came to pass at URI in June 2009, when the Inner Space Center opened its doors on the university’s Narragansett Bay Campus. Part of a new, $15 million Ocean Science and Exploration Center, which includes the Pell Marine Science Library, the Inner Space Center plays a key role in Ballard’s vision by using “telepresence” technology to enable scientists from around the world — and teachers and school children — to watch underwater exploration as it is taking place. to illustrate the concept. “I said that’s the future.”

Robert Ballard

The University of Rhode Island | Research & Innovation 2011-2012 8