SYLVIA Earle is one of the best friends the Pacific ever had. She has done more to promote the health and sustainability of the world’s oceans than nearly anyone else. Having made it her life’s work, she has spent decades improving knowledge and respect for our seas and has claimed a few world records along the way. Here are some highlights from her career.
Dr. Earle is in the National Women’s Hall of Fame, Women Divers Hall of Fame, and is a Library of Congress Living Legend.
She set the record for the deepest dive by a woman in 1979 and the record still stands.
She has been a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence since 1998.
She was the first female chief scientist at NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Time Magazine launched its Hero of the Planet in 1998 by honoring Earle as the inaugural one.
She founded Ocean Elders, an international group of prominent and influential people who pool resources to promote ocean conservation.
In 1970, she led the first all-female team of aquanauts in Tektite II.
She and her husband founded Deep Ocean Engineering, a trailblazing company that designs and builds robotic subsea systems such as the Deep Rover research submarine.
With her knowledge of the impact of oil on the ocean, she has been called upon by the government to advise during major oil spills such as the Persian Gulf War in 1991, the Exxon Valdez spill and Deepwater Horizon.
In 2012, she led an expedition to NOAA’s underwater research lab off Key Largo, Florida, which commemorated the fiftieth anniversary of Jacques Cousteau’s pioneering work on living underwater.
In 2020, Aurora Expeditions of Australia announced they would name their newest vessel the Sylvia Earle after her.
She has received the NOGI Award for Science, the Explorers Club Lowell Thomas Award, has been ordained as a Knight of the Order of the Golden Ark, holds the Society of Woman Geographers gold medal and the American Academy of Achievement Golden Plate Award.
She was the National Wildlife Federation’s Conservationist of the Year in 1998, won the National Audubon Society’s Rachel Carson Award, and the Carl Sagan Award for Public Understanding of Science.
She has authored over 150 publications.
Behind all these honors and accolades, there is her actual work, for which she has received such adoration, which deserves its own column. Its own book, really. She was born in 1935. She continues her work today.
BC Cook, PhD lived on Saipan and has taught history for 20 years. He currently resides on the mainland U.S.
BC Cook
Sylvia Earle
