Scientist takes Thousand Oaks audience on undersea adventure

Dr. Robert Ballard A Thousand Oaks audience last week heard Dr. Robert Ballard explain oceanography, its accomplishments and what it means for the 21st Century.

Ballard, a scientist and author, proved to be an interesting storyteller as he told of his adventures while discovering the sunken luxury liner R.M.S. Titanic and other ships.

During the Distinguished Speaker Series at the Civic Arts Plaza’s Fred Kavli Theatre, Ballard said that the Titanic, which he discovered in 1985 and revisited in 2003, is a museum beneath the sea where shoes are all that’s left of the victims “because animals will not eat leather.”

Originally he looked at the discovery as primarily of interest to scientists and college students, but he was quickly surprised by the excitement it brought to schoolchildren. So far, at least 16,000 have asked him, “What can we do to do what you do?”

Adults, not just youngsters, are interested in relics, and television, Ballard said, is a powerful tool to reveal discovery.

After meeting with Ted Turner and National Geographic representatives, Ballard realized that TV is the best method of presenting new discoveries.

Oceanography wins if teachers and scientists are seen as “star” role models, according to Ballard.

The focus of the teaching science, he said, should be on middle school students because they’re intrigued by it.

He told how his interest eventually focused on oceanography. Ballard, 63, was born in Wichita, Kan., and while growing up in San Diego and Downey, he was fascinated by mountain ranges. This led to an interesting paradox. “The largest mountain ranges are under the water,” Ballard said.

“The mid-ocean ridge is beneath the North Pole. It begins under Greenland and Iceland and continues 42,000 miles to Baja California and the San Andreas Fault. This is the largest feature on our planet.”

Earth is a living organism, Ballard said. There’s as much, if not more opportunity to use knowledge of the ocean for improving life as there is in space.

“We are mayflies on the planet Earth and Earth is constantly changing,” he said. Earth is alive and its sister planets (Mars and Venus) are not.

Oceans cover 70 percent of the planet’s surface, Ballard said, and life is found at incredible depths. Scientists, he said, have seen less than one-tenth of Earth’s oceans.

Ballard earned an undergraduate degree in geology and chemistry from UC Santa Barbara, attended graduate school at USC, the University of Hawaii Graduate School of Oceanography and received his PhD from the University of Rhode Island.