Page 36: of Marine Technology Magazine (May 2021)

INTERVIEW ROBERT BALLARD t the age of 78, Robert D. Ballard is and always will be a scientist, an ocean explorer intrigued by ? nding clues to the unknown. Currently engaged in a 10-year, $100m program with

A NOAA’s Of? ce of Ocean Exploration to map and characterize the US EEZ, a project which teams his ocean exploration trust with Woods Hole, the University of Rhode

Island, the University of New Hampshire and the University of Southern Mississippi, Ballard has not been on the sea for nearly two years due to the impact of COVID.

But Ballard – the author of multiple books, papers and ar- ticles, the subject of TV and ? lm – took the time to take a dif- ferent path of discovery and re? ection, into not just his career but also his personal life.

“I wrote a book, Eternal Darkness, with Princeton Press, and it got a really good review from the New York Times. But then they said, ‘I didn’t learn a thing about the person,’” said Bal- lard. “So this is a very personal book, and it also talks about parts of my life that I even at the time I wasn’t aware of.” “The Gift of Dyslexia” “I learned through my daughter that I’m dyslexic like her, and that was quite an awakening,” said Ballard. “And I thought, maybe this is time to talk about being dyslexic.”

Following in the footsteps of his “super brilliant, non dyslex- ic older brother” Richard – who Ballard admits that even now is the smartest human being he’s ever met – was a challenge for Ballard, particularly when he shared the same teachers.

For my job as a dolphin trainer at Hawaii’s Sea “I had A’s and B’s, but there’s a huge difference between an A

Life Park, 1965–66, I had two responsibilities.

Some days we put on a show but other days minus and my brother’s A plus, and that’s because I learn differ- we conducted research on dolphin behavior. It ently,” said Ballard. “I wanted to talk about that, because I view was a great job for someone who loved being it as a gift. And most kids that are dyslexic won’t talk about it in and around the ocean. and feel they’ve been told they’re stupid. And I really want to reach out to that audience to say no, you’re not. You’re follow- ing a path where the rules were written by non-dyslexics. And I want to tell you about the path I went down to success, where I was able to take advantage of the gift of dyslexia.” “I didn’t know I was dyslexic until I read the book The Dys- lexic Advantage. I remember when I read the book … slowly … I cried because it explained me to me for the ? rst time,” said Ballard. “And now I’ve really embraced it. And I realize why I was able to do what I’ve been able to do, because I’m such a vigil creature. I can imagine things in my mind, and it’s perfect when I go down to the darkest depths, I look at my sensor systems and I can form a mental image in a world of eternal darkness. I think it explains how I tick.”

As Ballard gets closer to his 80th birthday, he has become more re? ective on the balance of personal and work. “Two years ago I was in a Redwood forest and a brilliant professor from Harvard, Arthur Brooks, talked about how to stay happy while you grow old,” essentially three things you need to do, said Ballard. First on the list is developing closer bonds with friends, which Ballard has done spending more time “hunting 36 May/June 2021

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