I fell in love with the stories by William Beebe, who was an ocean explorer. He discussed what it was like to go down inside a submersible, and peer out of a port hole and see beautiful, luminescent fish, with lights down the side like ocean liners. Bizarre creatures of the sort that you just don’t see walking down the street, or going into the forest, or even looking around in shallow water.
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Sylvia Earle
Marine biologist and oceanographer; first woman to serve as Chief Scientist of NOAA
United States · b. 1935
Science and medicine
About
Sylvia Earle is an American marine biologist, oceanographer and author who led the first all-female team of aquanauts on the Tektite II mission in 1970 and set a record for solo untethered diving. She served as Chief Scientist of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and has been a National Geographic Explorer at Large since 1998.
3 answers
They encouraged me, the way I do others now, that if you really have something that you like to do, that’s what you probably should do. Despite what everybody says, that you can’t make a living, or that’s not practical, or a thousand reasons why you may not do this or this or this. If that’s what your heart says you should do, chances are that you ought to listen.
To the extent that we ignore this, forget about it, become complacent, or believe that it is so infinite that it can take care of itself, we are in trouble.
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