To The Far Depths - Seven Miles Down With The Bathyscaphe Trieste

Don Walsh is a living legend. He is one of the only two people to have dived to the bottom of the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench - the deepest point on the Earth's surface. This incredible technical and human achievement has never been repeated.

From 1959-1962 Lieutenant Don Walsh was the first Officer-in-Charge of the Bathyscaphe 'Trieste' at the Navy Electronics Laboratory in San Diego. Designated USN Deep Submersible Pilot #1 he was also the first submersible pilot in the US. In January 1960 Don and Jacques Piccard (now deceased) dove Trieste to the deepest place in the world's Oceans: 35,840 feet (10,924m). For this achievement, Lieutenant Walsh received a medal from President Eisenhower at a ceremony in the White House.

In 1975 Don retired as a captain to accept a professorship of ocean engineering at the University of Southern California (USC). There he became founding Director of the Institute for Marine and Coastal Studies (IMCS) with rank
of Dean. He left USC after 8 years to form IMI, his present consulting practice.

2010 is the 50th anniversary year of this awesome piece of exploration and we are delighted that Don has agreed to travel from Oregon to tell his incredible story.

You may also be interested in this piece from the BBC http://bit.ly/8i6AGx

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