Page 8: of Offshore Engineer Magazine (Aug/Sep 2013)

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Editor’s Column

Colloquy

Nina Rach

Sylvia Earle receives Hubbard Medal merican oceanographer Dr. Tektite programs in Great Lameshur in 1998, named her as the frst “Hero

Sylvia A. Earle recently received Bay, Saint John, U.S. Virgin Islands. for the Planet.”

A the Hubbard Medal, the National In 1979, Earle descended to the Earle earned a BS at Florida State

Geographic Society’s highest honor, ocean foor in a submarine off Oahu, University (1955) and an MS (1956) recognizing “leadership in explora- with an open-ocean JIM suit (atmo- and PhD (1966) from Duke University. tion, science, environmental She held various positions at the stewardship and education.” Earle California Academy of Sciences, was honored for her outstanding the University of California, achievements in marine explora- Berkeley, and Harvard University.

tion and conservation in June 2013. Film director and explorer

Mission Blue

James Cameron and Harvard Earle’s Hubbard Medal is the

Professor Dr. E.O. Wilson were also latest in a long train of accolades recognized and received Hubbard and recognitions, including the

Medals. 2011 Royal Geographical Society “The ocean drives

Gold Medal, and 22 honorary the way the planet works.” degrees.

Hubbard history

The Hubbard Medal was named In 2009, Dr. Earle won the TED for Gardiner Greene Hubbard, the prin- spheric diving suit) and walked on Prize, awarded annually to “an cipal founder and frst president the seabed 1,250ft below the surface, exceptional individual who receives of the National Geographic Society. setting a human depth record. US$1,000,000 and the TED commu-

It was frst awarded in 1906, to Robert In 1982, Earle and husband Graham nity’s resources and expertise to spark

E. Peary, for his polar Arctic expe- Hawkes founded Deep Ocean Engi- global change. The Prize begins with dition. His companion, navigator neering to design, operate, support, a big wish—a wish to inspire thinkers

Matthew Henson, was awarded the and consult on piloted and robotic and doers across the globe.” medal posthumously in 2000. subsea systems, culminating in the Dr. Earle’s plan was to “Bring knowl-

Dr. Earle is only the fourth woman Deep Rover research submarine. edge of our oceans to a wide audience to be honored in 107 years; preceded In 1990, she was appointed chief and galvanize support for marine by Anne Morrow Lindbergh (1934); scientist at the U.S. National Oceanic protected areas,” using all means,

Mary Leakey (1962); and Dr. Jane and Atmospheric Administration, and including flms, expeditions, the web,

Goodall (1995). led expeditions to the Persian Gulf new submarines, to help create a global in 1991 to determine environmental network of marine protected areas.

damage following Iraq’s destruction of In April 2010, TED hosted the fve- “Her Deepness”

Sylvia Earle has been at the forefront Kuwaiti oil wells. day Mission Blue conference, to draw of deep ocean research for 40 years. In 1992, she founded Deep Ocean public attention to ocean protection,

She was among the frst scientists to Exploration and Research to further on Lindblad’s National Geographic use SCUBA diving for research, and advance marine engineering. Endeavor in the Galapagos Islands. has spent more than 7,000 hours under Earle has been a National Geographic Over $17 million was committed to water. Earle holds the women’s world Society Explorer in Residence since seven ocean conservation initiatives, record for a solo submersible dive 1998, and holds the Rosemary and MissionBlue.org was launched: (3,300ft, 1986). She’s led more than 50 and Roger Enrico Chair for Ocean an ocean community hub. undersea expeditions, including the Exploration. Mission Blue is a global initiative frst team of women aquanauts in the The New Yorker and New York that includes more than 100 ocean

Tektite Project in 1970. The Tektite Times dubbed Earle “Her Deepness,” conservation groups, coordinated by habitat was an underwater lab that the Library of Congress calls her a the Sylvia Earle Alliance (SEA), based served as the home to divers during the “Living Legend,” and Time Magazine, in California.

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