1942-
Geologist, Ocean Explorer, Engineer

Galapagos Hydrothermal Expedition.

In 1977 Robert Ballard and the team of geologists and chemists of the Galapagos Hydrothermal Expedition were taking pictures of the ocean bottom off the coast of South America when they found something completely unexpected. Well below the reach of sunlight at the mouth of a volcanolike structure, an area certain to be too hot and too remote to support life — they found a thriving community of crabs, eels, and tube worms. The excursion had set out to learn more about geological activity in the deep sea, evidence that might prove that the earth's crust is composed of massive plates. Yet when they developed their pictures, scientists learned that they had made an even greater discovery: somehow life can be sustained at pressures of 3,650 pounds per square inch and in the complete absence of photosynthesizing plants.

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Naturally biologists...