Unsinkable passion: Titanic discoverer shares love of scientific research with students
By Gretchen Losi/Staff Writer/Daily Press
Lost cities deep on the ocean's floor, ships that sank 200 years before the birth of Christ and sea creatures that inhabited the bodies of others — all seem like plots for a sci-fi flick.
In fact, these are discoveries made by Dr. Robert Ballard, the man who also discovered the RMS Titanic.
"My kind of science is more of a contact sport — and children love it," said Ballard, who spoke to a select group of students from the Academy for Academic Excellence Thursday. "When kids understand science is an adventure and not just things to memorize, they get hooked."
He's living a life filled with adventure of epic proportions, yet the man best known as the discoverer of the Titanic wants his legacy to be the students he inspired to enter the field of science.
For 45 minutes he spoke of his amazing adventures and told the students of unearthly treasures in the Black Sea that have yet to be discovered — and one by one jaws began to drop.
"I've been on 116 expeditions, and look at what I've discovered by just exploring one-tenth of 1 percent of the ocean. Your generation will explore more of Earth than all generations before you — combined," Ballard said. "It will be your generation standing on the shoulders of other generations that will get to see and discover so much more."
At MIT Ballard said he would look around and find no American students going through the system and he found himself asking the question, "Why?"
"For years I saw there was a problem, but didn't think I could do anything," Ballard said.
Then he discovered the Titanic, and immediately letters from young students started pouring in, all asking the same questions: "How did you do that, and can we come with you next time?"
Shortly after that Ballard founded The Jason Foundation for Education. Through the foundation Ballard has been able to instill a love of science among millions of students, including one recently at the Lewis Center.
"I've always been interested in scientific engineering," fifth-grader Brandon Trussell said. "But that was before I knew about archaeological oceanography. Now I feel that's something I should explore."
At age 63, Ballard said he's at the top of his game and looking forward to a major expedition aboard America's first ship of exploration expected to go online August 2007.
"Its mission will be to go where no man has gone before," Ballard said.
And students can go along with him if they are fortunate enough to be hooked up to Internet 2 - super high-speed Internet with impressive multimedia capabilities.
"Internet 2 makes your Internet look like a dirt road," Ballard said. "With it you'll be able to follow the ship all school year. You'll be right there at the moment of each discovery."
The Lewis Center and the foundation are currently discussing ways in which they can work together in the future, though no details are final.
"We see there are commonalities, and we're working to have an on-going partnership," the foundation's president, Calob Schultz, said.
For more information about The Jason Project or The Lost City, go to www.jasonproject.org.
Gretchen Losi may be reached at 951-6233 or gretchen_losi@link.freedom.com.
Used with permission by Daily Press, Freedom Communication, 2005