- For the song see Bathysphere .
The
Bathysphere (
Greek words
βάθος (
bathos), "depth" and
σφαίρα (
sphaira), "sphere") is a
spherical deep-sea
submersible which was unpowered and lowered into the ocean on a cable, and was used to conduct a series of dives off the coast of
Bermuda from 1930 to 1934. The Bathysphere was designed in 1928 and 1929 by the American engineer
Otis Barton, to be used by the
naturalist William Beebe for studying undersea wildlife. Beebe and Barton conducted dives in the Bathysphere together, marking the first time that a marine biologist observed deep-sea animals in their native environment. Their dives set several consecutive world records for the deepest dive ever performed by a human. The record set by the deepest of these, to a depth of 3,028 feet on August 15, 1934, lasted until it was broken by Barton in 1949.
Origin and design
In 1928, the American naturalist
William Beebe was given permission by the British government to establish a research station on
Nonsuch Island, Bermuda. Using this station, Beebe planned to conduct an in-depth study of the animals inhabiting an eight-mile-square area of ocean, from a depth of two miles to the surface. Although his initial plan called for him to conduct this study by means of
helmet diving and
dredging, Beebe soon realized that these methods were inadequate for gaining a detailed understanding of deep-sea animals, and began making...
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