History of Ocean Exploration

1. History of Ocean Exploration A timeline of contributions

2. Something to consider… • Think back to the beginning of humanity. • Think of all possible reasons why humans would start exploring the oceans (Think about why we do so today).

3. ~25,000 yrs ago - Polynesians • Polynesians began colonizing Pacific (Samoa, Hawaii…) by knowledge of waves, bird flight, stars, smell of water, temp, salinity, color, and marine life Photos courtesy of the Polynesian Culture Center

4. ~1000 BC – Greeks • Homer and Plato mention sponge fisherman diving up to 100 feet for sponges • How? • With “skandaloptera” • Oil in their ears Image courtesy of Sandra Hendrikse and André Merks

5. ~300 BC - Greeks • inverted kettles trapped air to dive for sponges Alexander the Great Diving Photo courtesy of NOAA

6. ~300 BC - Aristotle • 1st marine biologist • “Father of natural history” • He identified a variety of marine species such as crustaceans, echinoderms, mollusks, fish and mammals • Identified differences between oviparous and viviparous The School of Athens by Raffaello Sanzio 1509, showing Plato (left) and Aristotle (right)

7. ~200 BC – More Greeks • Eratosthenes, greek astronomer, used distance between Alexandria and Syene and angles of shadows to determine the circumference of the earth • His calculation: 40,000 km • Actual: 40,032 km Courtesy of NOAA Ocean Education Service

8. 800-1000 A.D. Viking Exploration • 15- 30 m ships of oak powered by sails and oars • First to use the North Star to determine latitude • Explored and colonized Greenland and Iceland • Leif Erikson reached North America 500 years before Columbus and establishes what is today Newfoundland

9. ~1400-1600 - Renaissance • 1492 Columbus “discovers” America • 1519 Ferdinand Magellan is the first to circumnavigate the world and contributed to charting the oceans Map courtesy of Encyclopedia Britannica

10. 1690 – Edmund Halley (U.K.) • diving bell takes divers 50 feet underwater • Suggested that the age of the oceans could be determined by the rate at which rivers carry salt to the ocean Photo courtesy ofNational Maritime Museum, London

11. Mid-1700’s: Captain James Cook / Benjamin Franklin • Cook: Observations led to the discovery that vitamin C prevents scurvy and mapped islands in the South Pacific. • Franklin: noticed that mail delivery from Europe to the colonies took longer than mail from the colonies to Europe. Learned of a water current that moved up the coast from the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf Stream).

12. 1800 – Robert Fulton (U.S.) • Submarine Nautilus tested in France • Propelled by a handcranked screw propeller • His rudder system is still in use today Photo courtesy ofNational Maritime Museum, London

13. 1831-36 – Voyage of the Beagle • Naturalist Charles Darwin sailed around the world on HMS Beagle • Spent 8 years working on barnacles which brought about his theory of evolution by natural selection and his book the Origin of Species Map courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

14. 1872-1876 – Challenger expedition • 1st expedition to collect oceanic species from around the world • Beginning of modern oceanography Map courtesy of TAMU

15. Challenger contributions • Water samples • Sediment samples • Recorded temperature and pressure at varying depths • Discovered, described and catalogued 4,700 new species of marine organisms • Collected data on tides, currents, and wave action • Director: Sir Charles Thompson “ founder of oceanography”

16. 1914 – Reginald Fessenden (Canada) • First acoustic exploration of the sea floor • Allowed submarines and boats to detect icebergs • Titanic sank in 1912; which spurred this research • Lead to development of sonar

17. 1930 – Barton and Beebe (U.S.) • Otis Barton designed the bathysphere, and with naturalist Dr. William Beebe dove 1428 feet near Bermuda Photo courtesy ofWildlife Conservation Society

18. Photo courtesy ofNOAA 1943 – Jacques-Yves Cousteau (France) • Cousteau improved the aqualung and invented modern scuba (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus) • Marine conservationist

19. Photo courtesy ofNational Maritime Museum, London Map courtesy of NOAA 1960 – Jacques Piccard (Switzerland) • Piccard designed the bathyscaphe Trieste, and with Lt. Don Walsh, reached the deepest point in the ocean, 35,800 feet in the Mariana Trench

20. 1977 – Alvin • Built in 1964 • Discovery of hydrothermal vents in 1977 Photo courtesy of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute http://www.whoi.edu/home/interactive/alvin/

21. Photo courtesy ofAl Giddings Images, Inc Photo courtesy ofAl Giddings Images, Inc 1979 – Dr. Sylvia Earle (U.S.) • Dr. Earle, in a JIM suit, rides the submersible Star II to the seafloor near Oahu, Hawaii • New record: 1250 feet deep for 2 ½ hours

22. Photo courtesy of Marine Technology Society 1985 – DeepRover • This single person submersible was launched, diving 3280 feet

23. 1999 – DeepWorker • Can remain submerged for 12 hours at 2000 ft • Single person submersible allows for exploration of U.S. National Marine Sanctuaries

24. Robert “Bob” Ballard • Most remembered for his discoveries of old ship wrecks of the RMS Titanic, Battleship Bismarck, USS Yorktown and most recently John F. Kennedy’s PT109. • He is a former commander in the US Navy and is currently a professor of oceanography at the University of Rhode Island

25. Today - Marine labs • Scripps Institution of Oceanography • La Jolla, CA (1912) • http://www.sio.ucsd.edu/ • Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution • Woods Hole, MA (1930) • http://www.whoi.edu/ • Virginia Institute of Marine Science • Gloucester Point, VA (1940) • http://www.vims.edu/ • Harte Research Institute • Corpus Christi, TX (2000) • http://www.harteresearchinstitute.org/

26. Bob Ballard • Under water discovery Video • After watching the video, you and a partner will answer the following questions; will be turned in; read the questions now so you can think about them throughout the video • Why do you think we haven’t explored the oceans more in depth? • What is the importance of exploring the oceans? • In what way(s) do you think we’ve made a sufficient progress throughout history of ocean exploration?