Don Walsh Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids Don Walsh
Walsh in 2010
Born	(1931-11-02)November 2, 1931 Berkeley, California, U.S.
Died	November 12, 2023(2023-11-12) (aged 92) Myrtle Point, Oregon, U.S.
Alma mater	United States Naval Academy
Known for	Trieste
Awards	Hubbard Medal (2010)
Scientific career
Institutions	United States Navy


Military career
Allegiance	United States
Service/branch	United States Navy
Rank	Captain
Awards	Distinguished Public Service Award Hubbard Medal

Don Walsh (November 2, 1931 – November 12, 2023) was an American oceanographer, explorer and marine policy specialist. He and Jacques Piccard were aboard the bathyscaphe Trieste when it made a record maximum descent into the Challenger Deep on January 23, 1960, the deepest point of the world's oceans. The depth was measured at 35,813 feet (10,916 m), but later and more accurate measurements have measured it at 35,798 feet (10,911 m).

Lt. Don Walsh, USN (bottom) and Jacques Piccard (center) in the bathyscaphe Trieste

Biography
- Later life
Honors
Awards and decorations
See also

Biography

Walsh born in Berkeley, California on November 2, 1931. He was associated with ocean science, engineering, and marine policy for more than fifty years. He was commissioned as an officer in the United States Navy upon graduation from the United States Naval Academy in 1954. He attained the rank of captain by the time he retired. He spent fifteen years at sea, mostly in submarines, and was a submarine commander. He also worked with ocean-related research and development for the U.S. Navy.

Serving as Dean of Marine Programs and Professor of Ocean Engineering at the University of Southern California, Walsh initiated and directed the university's Institute for Marine and Coastal Studies, and was a member of the board of directors for Omnithruster Inc., a manufacturer of marine maneuvering and auxiliary propulsion systems in nearby Santa Fe Springs. In 1989, his company, International Maritime Incorporated, contracted a joint venture with the P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology to establish an underwater maintenance company, Soyuz Marine Service, which continues to operate in the Russian Federation. Walsh continued to support ocean sciences in his work on the Ocean Sciences Board at the National Academy of Sciences.

Later life

Walsh lived with his wife, Joan, in Sitkum, Oregon, on a ranch which he had bought 1992. He managed a marine consulting business beginning in 1976, and as of 2010^[update] conducted about five deep-sea expeditions per year. He remained active with the National Academy of Sciences and the Ocean Elders, and served on the faculty of Oregon State University.

Walsh visited the wreck of the RMS Titanic on board the submersible MIR 2 on 20 July 2001.

It was reported in 2010 that Walsh visited the deep-sea submersible Jiaolong and its makers at the China Ship Scientific Research Center. The craft had "planted a Chinese flag on the bottom of the South China Sea during a two-mile-deep dive in June" as the Chinese program—which Walsh characterized as "very deliberate"—proceeded toward its ambitious goal of diving to 7,000 meters, or 4.35 miles, in 2012.

Walsh joined the team that oversaw the dive of the Deepsea Challenger mission, during which James Cameron dived solo to the bottom of the Challenger Deep, on March 26, 2012.

Walsh was the inspiration for Chris Wright's 2015 book No More Worlds to Conquer, and his interview constitutes the opening chapter. The book, about moving on from the defining moment in one's life, was inspired by Walsh's answer to Wright's question: what came next after the Trieste dive? Walsh responded: "Well, a lot of people think I died."

Walsh was on board to congratulate Victor Vescovo when he completed his own record-breaking series of dives in the Challenger Deep in 2019.

In June 2020, Walsh's son Kelly dived to the bottom of the Challenger Deep with Vescovo, becoming the twelfth person to reach the deepest point in the ocean.

Walsh died at his home in Myrtle Point, Oregon on November 12, 2023, at the age of 92.

Honors

Walsh received a bachelor's degree in engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy, a Master's degree in Political Science from San Diego State University, and a master's degree and a PhD in physical oceanography from Texas A&M University. He was appointed by Presidents Carter and Reagan to the U.S. National Advisory Committee on Oceans and Atmosphere, was a member of the Law of the Sea Advisory Committee for the U.S. Department of State, and served as a member of the Marine Board of the U.S. National Research Council from 1990 to 1993. In 2001, Walsh was elected to the National Academy of Engineering. Walsh held a faculty appointment at Oregon State University in the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences.

Walsh was named one of the world's great explorers by Life magazine. He has spent more than five decades traveling the world conducting research in, on, and around the oceans.

In 1961, Walsh was chosen as one of 50 outstanding Americans of meritorious performance in the fields of endeavor, to be honored as a guest of honor to the first annual Banquet of the Golden Plate in Monterey, California. Honor was awarded by vote of the National Panel of Distinguished Americans of the Academy of Achievement.

On April 14, 2010, The National Geographic Society bestowed its greatest honor, the Hubbard Medal, on Walsh in a ceremony in Washington, D.C. at the National Geographic headquarters. The U.S. Navy awarded Walsh its Distinguished Public Service Award.

On September 22, 2020, The Marine Technology Society and The Society for Underwater Technology announced that Edith Widder was the inaugural recipient of their new joint MTS/SUT Captain Don Walsh Award for Ocean Exploration.