Peter_Torque
Grill Instructor
Registered: May 2002
Location: No. California
Posts: 4175 |
Bob Ballard might not be the perfect man, but he's one of the most interesting sumbitches of all time.
Besides finding the Titanic and Lusitania, he invented JASON and most of the technology we use to explore ocean life. Take a look.
(from the program, pt. 2)
In 1979, Ballard made yet another important scientific discovery... They call them "black smokers"- chimneys spewing out clouds of mineral-rich water, so hot it must have come from deep in the earth's crust. ... Ballard: "The first time we saw one, we're coming up on it... there's an updraft and it's pulling us towards it... we're trying to find out what the temperature is, so we stick our mechanical arm in it. It pegs off the scale. The pilot says "that's hot!" ... then we removed the equipment, and it's melted. ... he says; "I just want you guys to know that the probe is made out of the same material as the porthole!" And we were, like, three feet away... and moving toward it.
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