In 1935 Beebe and Barton dove and set several consecutive world records for the deepest dive ever performed by a human. The captain of their crew allowed the bathysphere to stay at the bottom for only 3 minutes before going back up. Beebe described eerie and extravagant undersea animals, along with large water voids with no apparent life. For years, no one believed him and they said he was making it all up. Then photographs and other scientists' observations verified his observations, and Beebe was officially credited with the discovery of hundreds of new life forms.
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. Through these dives, the bathysphere proved its qualities but also revealed weaknesses. It was hard to operate and involved considerable potential risks. A break in the suspension cable would have killed the men inside; surface waves and the boat moving could have caused such a thing. Because of these disadvantages, the bathysphere was replaced by the safer, more maneuverable mesoscaphe and bathyscaphe.
No comments:
Post a Comment