Sylvia Earle

Sylvia Earle

Sylvia Earle was born to be in water. She was always curious about the wonders of the sea. Earle realized when she was little, that there was a vast magical world on the shore. She wondered, "if that’s only the shore, what lies under the vast open ocean?" Later, she would set off on an adventure that would answer this question.

During her life, her parents moved to Florida, and she went to the Gulf of Mexico, and made that the backyard of her exploration. When she was 16 years old, she attempted her first dive. Later in her career, she would have more than 6,000 hours of diving time under the sea.

Some of Earle's dives are unforgettable. One of her most amazing stories happened in 1968. Sylvia Earle was part of an exploration that was going to drop down to the bottom of the sea in the first modern submersible, without a lockout chamber. The amazing part of this story is that she was four months pregnant. Earle then became the first woman scientist to look through the porthole of a submarine. Still, all of those accomplishments weren’t the only things that happened during her life. There were also problems and disagreements.

Later, Earle was part of a project called Navy's Tektite. It was funded by both The Navy, and Nasa. She was the leader of the women’s aquanauts, on an underwater exploration to explore both the underwater structures of rocks, and the affects of how the human body lives under water, she saw the affects of global warming on coral reefs, and some cases of man-made pollutants as well. Later, when she was asked what her thoughts were, she expressed her feelings by saying, “ignorance, lack of understanding, a failure to relate our destiny to that of the sea.” She really supported the beliefs of the fishermen. She said that this is the time that the sea is now letting itself out, and that it is expanding.

Sylvia Earle’s research has changed the world of marine biology, through the discovery of man-made pollutants, and a better understanding of the affect global warming has on coral reefs. Her actions and discoveries have really inspired the fight against man's destruction of the sea. Personally, I love the sea. It is a place of wonder and mystery. You never know what you will find when you dive into the world of Sylvia Earle. That is why Sylvia Earle, the marine biologist, is my hero.