ROBERT BALLARD - AUTOGRAPHED SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH - HFSID 215597

ROBERT BALLARD
The aquatic explorer who has discovered many shipwrecks during his illustrious career signed this black and white 5x7 image
Photograph signed: "Robert Ballard". B/w, 5x7. Robert Ballard (b. 1942), a researcher at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, applied optical fiber technology to designs of a new generation of towed sleds (Argo) that would transmit video pictures to the surface in real time. Ballard made his most famous discovery, the wreck of the RMS Titanic, in 1985. He and his colleagues designed a robot, the Jason, Jr., to enter the Titanic and photograph its interior. He has since used the Jason-Argo technology to locate several other very famous sunken ships, including the Bismarck, RMS Lusitania, PT-109, and the USS Yorktown.  His search for PT-109, the boat that John F. Kennedy manned during World War II, was catalogued in the 2003 film The Search for PT 109. In addition to finding these famous ships, Ballard has led several expeditions into the Black Sea. The landlocked body of water in Eastern Europe has very little oxygen below 160 yards, meaning that wooden hulls do not deteriorate as they do in other bodies of water. His many discoveries in the Black Sea include a still-intact ship over 1500 years old! During his career, Dr. Ballard has led or participated in more than 110 deep-sea expeditions. During the run of SeaQuest 2032 from 1993 to 1996, Ballard served as a technical consultant. Ink notation in another hand on verso, no show through. Otherwise, fine condition.