Hi Seedy!
I have to say, meeting Dr. Ballard was absolutely incredible. I was a
teenager when he discovered the wreck of the Titanic, and the reports
that drifted across the news back then really stirred me. The
feelings of both awe and sadness have stayed with me to this day, and
the absolute admiration of a man committed to his curiosity has never
faded.
Yes, it was a bit of idol worship time for me tonight. Sitting right
in the front row didn't hurt, either. *grin*
As you're probably aware, I'm involved in my children's education, and
spent a considerable amount of time discussing the Titanic disaster
with my ten year-old last week - his class did a week long unit about
the Titanic and her ill-fated voyage. I found out about Dr. Ballard's
visit to Toledo completely by accident, and shared the news with the
ten year-old's teacher today. He was unable to attend, so I promised
to take copious notes and transcribe them.
I had no idea I'd need them for GA tonight! So let me shuffle through
them, decipher my awful handwriting and begin at the beginning! I
scribbled fast and furious, and managed to take down a great many
quotes to share with Alexander's teacher, so I will include those. As
I go, I'll also include URLs to illustrate some of the things Dr.
Ballard discussed. Obviously, I don't have his nifty cool slides, but
hey, that's what Google is for, right?
Dr. Ballard began his presentation tonight the way many folks begin
such talks - he started with where he was born.
"I was born in Witchita, Kansas. You know, where *all* future
oceanographers are born."
And he was off, with laughter ringing through the auditorium. He
talked about his childhood, and how, growing up as a military brat in
San Diego, he told his parents that he wanted to be like Captain Nemo,
and study the ocean. Rather than pooh-pooh his dreams, they
encouraged him to take extra math and science courses in school and to
spend his free time at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography:
Scripps
http://www.sio.ucsd.edu/
He did, and the rest is, as they say, history. And *what* a history
it is!
Much of the presentation tonight highlighted Dr. Ballard's incredible
career as a scientist. In 1973, Dr. Ballard was among the first
scientists ever to explore the Mid Ocean Ridge - the largest
geological feature on Earth:
Mid Ocean Ridge
http://www2.ocean.washington.edu/
Mid Ocean Ridges
http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/vents/nemo/explorer/concepts/mor.html
During that expedition, Dr. Ballard and crew discovered deep sea
tubeworms measuring a whopping 22 feet long near hydrothermic fissures
(he compared these fissures to undersea versions of Old Faithful). Up
until then, scientists thought that because of the extreme depth and
utter lack of light, nothing could live down there. Look what they
found (the tubeworms are in the title graphic and on page three):
Animal Gallery
http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/vents/nemo/explorer/bio_gallery/biogallery1.html
He said he was stunned and excited to find that they had been wrong
all along, and was further excited to learn that these sea worms
contained a "sinobacterium" which mimicked photosynthesis! This
process is known as "chemosynthesis":
Chemosynthesis
http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/vents/nemo/explorer/concepts/chemosynthesis.html
He notes that scientists are still awed by this discovery - the ocean
is nearly 35,000 feet in spots, with an average depth of 12,000 feet,
and *things can live there*!
What's particularly relevant to today's explorations is that this
sinobacterium is the same kind that was recently found on Mars!
Scientists are considering the possibility that this sinobacterium may
point to life on Mars - or rather, life IN Mars. These bacterium are
found in geothermic systems like the deep sea fissures and in
volcanoes.
He also discusse the possibility of geothermic systems on one of
Jupiter's moons, Europa. It's thought that if scientists can
penetrate Europa's ice canopy, they may discover volcanoes, and
possibly similar bacteria!
Ice On Europa
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/ice/ice_europa.html
[ Perusing my scribbles and thinking back to the lecture, it's *very*
apparent that Dr. Ballard really loves his work and gets wound up in
it. He flits from one subject to the next with ease, explaining the
interconnectedness of each as he goes - sort of like us GA Researchers
getting excited and curious about the topics we research. Did I
mention that Dr. Ballard is a terrific speaker? ]
Dr. Ballard has undertaken an incredible 120 expeditions over the
years, and has been responsible for the discovery of such wrecks as
the Bismarck, eleven warships from the lost fleet of Guadalcanal, the
U.S.S Yorktown, two American warships sunk in Lake Ontario (relics of
the War of 1812!), the exploration of the sunken Lusitania, the
remarkably recent discovery of PT-109 (JFK's WWII ship)...and the
infamous RMS Titanic.
Poor Dr. Ballard, that's all anyone ever wants to talk about:
"It's funny. I've gone on more than a hundred expeditions. Finding
the Titanic was my seventieth one, so it's not like I was new at the
whole exploration thing. I helped prove the theory of plate
tectonics. I figured out ocean chemistry. I've studied currents and
tides and their effects on ocean life. I found creatures in the
trenches of the Mid Ocean Ridge. I had Done Things before I found the
Titanic. I wasn't even sure I was going to find it! I just needed a
way to test out the new exploration robots I had built.
Do you think in all that time, I got even one letter from a kid?
No.
Do you know what I had to do to get letters from school kids? I had
to find the Titanic.
The guys at Woods Hole hated me for that. The letters ended up
shutting down the mail system at Woods Hole for a while, because they
couldn't keep up. I came back from that expedition and was showered
with SIXTEEN THOUSAND letters from school kids! And do you know what
they all said?"
At this, I was howling. I know what *mine* said, when I was fifteen
and fascinated with what I was seeing: "How do I get a job like yours
and can I go with you on your next trip?"
Dr. Ballard confirmed that that's what virtually *all* of them said.
"So what do I tell these kids? 'Go to college and take physics for
ten years!' No. But I needed to find a way to make it clear that for
as much fun as I have with my work - and I have lots of fun! - I *paid
my dues* in school. I took a lot of extra math and science courses.
And I realized that it's all interconnected, and that we have to find
a way to relate English and Social Studies classes to Math and Science
classes if we're going to have the best and brightest future
explorers. And that's how JASON was born."
Dr. Ballard was inspired by the surge of interest in oceanography and
scientific exploration, and began the JASON project, named for the
legendary seeker of the Golden Fleece. It was his goal to get kids
excited about science and discovery while demopnstrating the
interconnectedness of these areas with other areas of study and life:
The Jason Project
http://www.jason.org/
Dr. Ballard presented materials from the JASON Project curriculum,
including short "video classes" and discussed how Internet 2 is being
utilized to deiver live, real time exploration footage for "virtual
field trips" via satellite linkups. It's his goal to enable kids to
gain access to numerous sources of information, and to encourage them
to be curious and hungry for knowledge:
"Five year-olds make great scientists. They always ask 'Why?'. And
when you answer, they'll ask another question: 'But WHY?'. Give them
about five whys, and they can reduce you to tears because they've
dragged you back to the absolute basics of science. But that's a GOOD
thing!
I started the JASON Project to encourage kids to ask 'Why?'. That's
our favorite word on JASON expeditions and in JASON classes. I also
wanted to be able to encourage teachers to admit when they were
stumped. I want teachers to be able to say 'Well, no, I don't know
why. But I know how to find someone who *does*!' I want teachers to
be able to acknowledge that no one person knows it all, but we can all
work together and find out how to get the information we need.
Eventually, through JASON link-ups, kids will be able to ask any
question, and have instant access to hundreds of researchers and
scientists to find their answer."
[ Sounds a lot like working on GA, doesn't it? And on a further
personal note, the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library is the only
public library *in the world* to participate in the JASON project!
Yay for the Glass City! ]
Dr. Ballard segued from discussion of JASON back to other projects,
taking care to note that these projects are also being discussed in
the course of the JASON project, because they are current and of
interest to scientists and kids alike. He talked about his plan to
install fiber-optic robots in each of several Marine Sanctuaries which
allow kids to remotely control them and explore these Sanctuaries for
themselves. Visitors to Dr. Ballard's Mystic Aquarium and Institute
for Exploration can do just that:
Mystic Aquarium and Institute for Exploration
http://www.mysticaquarium.org/
And what about those robots, anyway? How long does it take to build
robotic explorers like the Argo and JJ?
"About two years. A year to design them, and another year to convince
the engineers that they *can* be built. Sometimes a little less,
though. They're starting to understand that the robots *will*
function."
Dr. Ballard talked about a project in which he attempted to find out
what happened to ancient ships - he says he's tired of "famous"
shipwrecks, and now wants to see what else is out there:
"...so I went to explore the Mediterranean, and wondered about trade
routes between Carthage and Rome after the Punic Wars.
I did my most sophisticated analysis ever.
I used a ruler."
More laughter from the audience. We were all expecting some complex
explanation about how he chose where to look, and he informed us that
he just pulled out a map, laid a ruler between Carthage and Rome
(remarking upon the slide he was showing "This is how I view the
Mediterranean. Or would like to. Completely drained."), drew a
straight line, and instructed his crew to "drive right along that
line".
He said that no one was surprised when, all along that line, they
discovered empty amphora (wine jugs - he noted "When you're out at sea
with a load of wine, you're going to dip into the sauce. And what do
you do with the empties? Chuck 'em overboard! That's what they did,
and we found them, and the level of preservation is *remarkable*!").
Additionally, they discovered hundreds of ancient ships!
Dr. Ballard and his crew will be exploring this region again in July
for National Geographic, and he advises to watch for pictures and
articles in the coming months.
Quite interesting was his discussion of The Great Flood. It seems
that Dr. Ballard and other researchers have managed to pin down a date
for this flood, noting that it did not cover the entire Earth, but
*did* wipe out an entire area of people. That ancient shoreline has
been discovered, 155 meters below the current level of the Black Sea.
It's hypothesized that the Black Sea is the site of the Biblical flood
- formerly a fresh water lake, the Black Sea (which is connected to
the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas, among others) is now stratified
(layered) and anoxic. It's dead, nothing lives there now.
7460 years ago, it was quite a different story. It's thought that at
that time, the glaciers were rapidly melting, and they caused the seas
to overflow, spilling over into freshwater lakes. This theory was
recently fleshed out by the discovery of a vast number of shells in
the area. Dr. Ballard's team took the shells in to a lab and had them
sorted and classified. More recent shells were salt water species,
all the way back to 7460 years ago. Prior to that? The shells came
from freshwater species which are now extinct! This switch coincides
with the timeframe in which The Great Flood is said to have occurred.
Dr. Ballard and his crew explored the sea bottom, and discovered two
nearly perfectly preserved ships - one around 1500 years old, and
another dating back to the third century BCE! Even more astonishing,
they found a perfectly preserved, mummified dolphin:
"...since there was nothing there to consume the remains, he
mummified. Not the dried out kind of mummy, but the supple,
incredibly detailed kind, much like the Scottish Bog People. It was
the most amazing thing to see..."
Dr. Ballard is currently working with the Egyptian government to
obtain a permit to explore the Eastern Nile and the Nile Shelf, in
search of trade routes, ancient shipwrecks, and clues to ancient
civilizations.
When asked what he expected to find there, he smiled and replied:
"I don't *expect* to find anything. If you go into an expedition with
an agenda, you're going to taint your results. One should never go
into an expedition expecting specific results. That's a sure way to
be disappointed, and I'd be a terrible scientist if I did it for any
other reason than *I just want to know*."
And with that, Dr. Ballard ended his presentation. He took questions
for a half an hour following, including one from a man who wanted to
know if there could ever be peaceful coexistence between salvagers who
wish to dive the Titanic wreckage and those who wish to have the site
declared a Marine Sanctuary, and off-limits to salvagers.
Dr. Ballard's impassioned reply that salvagers should not be allowed,
that we should show respect for the people who lost their lives in the
disaster and treat the site with the same reverence we would treat any
other grave site brought many of us to tears, myself included. I was
unable to take notes as he pled with the audience to oppose any
efforts to allow salvagers to dive the wreckage. He talked about the
1500 lost at sea, and how their shoes and belts and hats remain on the
ocean floor, right where the bodies of the victims had landed. He
said that the sea dissolved the flesh and bones, but the leather goods
remained unscathed, and stayed to mark the places where their owners
fell - children's shoes with their mothers', men's shoes with their
wives' - and that salvagers never mention these because it would make
the disaster too real to the people they are trying to get dive
permission from. He said the Titanic should be left alone - there are
artifacts that are in museums to educate, and the rest should remain
below instead of being dredged up and sold on eBay.
It was a very moving response, and one that struck the audience
momentarily silent. Questions ended then, and he met with us in the
lobby to sign autographs and speak to the children who clustered
around him with wide eyes and enormous smiles.
What a wonderful way to spend a Monday night! And then I got to come
home and share it with you!
If you're interested in Dr. Ballard's most recently celebrated
discovery, that of the wreck of PT-109, keep your eyes open for ads
detailing the upcoming NBC special about the wreck, to air on November
24th. The expedition will also be detailed in the December issue of
National Geographic.
As ever, if you're looking for more information, don't hesitate to
ask. I'll be happy to find it for you!
--Missy
No search terms, really. Just lecture notes, and the occasional
keyword peek on Google - like "mid ocean ridge" and "chemosynthesis". |
