Robert Ballard Oceanographer

Bismarck

Ballard undertook an even more daunting task when he and his team went searching for the Bismarck in 1989. The water in which she sank is 4,000 feet deeper than where the Titanic sank. Ballard attempted to make clear whether the German battleship had been sunk by the British or was scuttled by her own crew. Three weeks after the expedition however, personal tragedy struck the famed explorer when his 21 year old son Todd who had aided his father in the search, was killed in a car accident.
Lusitania

In 1993 Ballard investigated the wreck of the RMS Lusitania off the Irish coast. The ship was struck by one torpedo, whose explosion was followed by a second, much larger one. The wreck has since been virtually obliterated by depth charges dropped by the Royal Navy, so it was difficult for Ballard to a do a forensic analysis. He determined the boilers were intact, and speculated the second explosion may have been caused by coal dust. Others have questioned this hypothesis. Ballard has not ruled out the possibility of cold seawater contacting superheated water in the ship's steam generation plant.
Battle of Guadalcanal

Ballard and his team have also visited the sites of many wrecks of World War II in the Pacific. His book Lost Ships of Guadalcanal locates and photographs many of the vessels sunk in the infamous Ironbottom Sound, the strait between Guadalcanal Island and the Floridas in the Solomon Islands.
USS Yorktown

On 19 May 1998 Ballard found the wreck of the Yorktown, sunk at the Battle of Midway. The wreck was found 3 miles (5 km) beneath the surface and was photographed.

wrecks continued

Ballard is perhaps largely known for his historic 1985 discovery of the RMS Titanic, the long-lost passenger liner that tragically slipped deep beneath the North Atlantic after hitting an iceberg. But this undersea adventurer has also carried out more than 100 deep-sea expeditions using the latest in aqua-technology.

And the best is yet to come: from searching for bizarre extremophiles to looking for ancient ships along with their crew members preserved in a mummified state.

Ballard was the keynote speaker on dry land last month, talking before the National Space Club-sponsored 54th Annual Robert H. Goddard Memorial Dinner, a prestigious black-tie affair of 2,300 attendees, including astronauts, NASA and aerospace industry leaders.

Continued Updates

Last summer, two telepresence-enabled research vessels hit the high seas. No, we're not talking Star Trek-the E/V Nautilus and Okeanos Explorer use satellite communications to bring scientists across the globe aboard, virtually, in 20 minutes flat. The system, designed by National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Robert Ballard (who discovered the Titanic), allows the ships to roam year-round, 24/7, with the best pair of eyes at the helm. During initial trials the ships "made huge discoveries roughly every 11 hours," says Ballard. "It was ridiculous." Here's how Ballard's fleet works. Text by Peter Koch

1 - Ballard's ship, the E/V Nautilus, maps the bottom of the Indian Ocean, near Oman with sidescan sonar, searching ancient trade routes for a shipwreck. It picks up an unnatural pattern on the seafloor, and the ship launches ROVs for a closer look. At 2,500 feet, their lights illuminate a wreck.

Continue dreamboats

On July 12, 1986, Ballard and his team returned on board Atlantis II [*] to make the first detailed study of the wreck. This time, Ballard brought Alvin, a deep diving submersible which could hold a small crew. Alvin was accompanied by Jason Junior, a small remotely operated vehicle which could fit through small openings to see into the ship's interior. While the first dive (taking over two hours to dive down) saw technical problems, subsequent dives were far more successful, and produced a detailed photographic record of the wreck's condition. *credit

"We pulled the plug and drained the Black Sea to what it was about 7,000 years ago-then put the plug back in."

Black Sea

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The JASON Project was founded in 1989 by Dr. Robert D. Ballard, the oceanographer and explorer who discovered the shipwreck of RMS Titanic.
JASON Project connects students with great explorers and great events to inspire and motivate them to learn science. If you know young people who is interesting in science, direct them to the Jason Project.