Robert Ballard

In 1966, Ballard married Marjorie Jacobsen, a medical receptionist and they had two sons, Todd and Douglas. However, the couple divorced in 1990. He then married Barbara Earle in January 1991 and they have two children, William and Emily.

Robert Ballard’s son accompanied him on his expedition to discover the sunken German battleship, Bismarck. Just three weeks after the discovery, a personal tragedy struck him when his son passed away in a car accident at the age of 21.

Robert Ballard was born in Wichita, Kansas and grew up in Pacific Beach, San Diego, California. His early fascination with the sea is attributed to a novel which he read when he was a young boy titled, ‘Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea’.

His interest for the ocean soon developed into passion and he began working part-time for Andreas Rechnitzer’s Ocean Systems Group, in 1962. It was around this time he worked on the submersible ‘Alvin’ for the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Simultaneously, he was pursuing an undergraduate degree in chemistry and geology from the University of California, and he graduated in 1965. He then earned his MS in geophysics from the Institute of Geophysics at the University of Hawaii.

He began working towards earning a Ph.D. in marine geology from the University of Southern California in 1967, but his studies were soon cut-short when he was transferred to the US Navy as an oceanographer.

His first professional dive in a submersible was in 1969, off the coast of Florida, as a part of an oceanographic expedition arranged by Woods Hole. He began charting different parts of the ocean as a part of his Ph.D. dissertation. After a painstaking four years, he finally obtained his Ph.D. in marine geology and geophysics from the University of Rhode Island.

In the summer of 1975, he participated in the French-American expedition, Phere, searching for hydrothermal flues over the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Around this time, his obsession with discovering the Titanic began.

While aboard the French research ship, Le Suroit, he began using the sonar vehicle, SAR, in his search for Titanic’s wreck. However, the French ship was called back and Ballard and his team were soon shifted onto another ship belonging to Woods Hole.

In 1982, he approached the US Navy with his idea of a new, technologically advanced, underwater robot vehicle, the ‘Argo’, which would help him discover the world’s greatest sunken ship, Titanic.

The Navy was not interested in financing the oceanographer’s expedition because they believed it was a lost cause and that finding the Titanic would be almost impossible. However, with a little bit of persuasion and with the promise that he would discover two sunken submarines for them, the Navy finally agreed to let him use their financial resources for his discovery.

His discovery of the Titanic on September 1, 1985, not only changed the face of ocean archeology forever but paved way for the development of even more advanced under-water technology. After Titanic foundered, he became the first person in 73 years to stumble upon the legendary ship which sank in 1912. The discovery is considered one of his greatest works because it was the first manned exploration of the mid-Atlantic ridge.

His book ‘Lost Liners’ published in 1997, is his magnum opus and offers its readers an insight into the magnificent ships and transatlantic liners lost under the sea. From the RMS Titanic to the Phoenician ships and the Andrea Doria, the book is a first-hand account of Ballard’s experiences and quests. In the first week of its release the book sold over 14,000 copies in the United States.