Research Catalog

Title

The eternal darkness : a personal history of deep-sea exploration / Robert D. Ballard with Will Hively.

Author

Ballard, Robert D.

Publication

Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, [2000], ©2000.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Additional Authors

Hively, Will.

Description

xii, 388 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), maps; 24 cm

Summary

• "Until a few decades ago, the ocean depths were almost as mysterious and inaccessible as outer space. Oceans cover two-thirds of the earth's surface with an average depth of more than two miles - yet humans had never ventured more than a few hundred feet below the waves. One of the great scientific and archaeological feats of our time has been finally to cast light on the "eternal darkness" of the deep sea.
• This is the story of that achievement, told by the man who has done more than any other to make it possible; Robert Ballard." "In this book, he combines science, history, spectacular illustrations, and firsthand stories from his own expeditions in a uniquely personal account of how twentieth-century explorers have pushed back the frontiers of technology to take us into the midst of a world we could once only guess at."--BOOK JACKET.

Subject

Underwater exploration > History

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 315-374) and index.

Contents

Pt. I. Depth. 1. A Simple Tethered Sphere. 2. Bathyscaphs Race to the Bottom. 3. The Tragic Dawn of the Modern Deep Submersible -- Pt. II. Discovery. 4. Scientists Begin Exploring the Deep. 5. The Midocean Ridge: Womb of the Earth. 6. Hydrothermal Vents: Exotic Oases. 7. Black Smokers: Recipe for a Salty Ocean -- Pt. III. Detachment. 8. A Tethered Eyeball Races to Find the Titanic. 9. Recovering Our Past by Remote Control. 10. Should Humans Continue to Dive? Two Paradigms.

ISBN

0691027404 (cloth : alk. paper)

LCCN

99043072

OCLC

• ocm42061106
• SCSB-3828644

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries