Voting Station

Robert Ballard

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Explorer

The Resume

    (June 30, 1942- )
    Born in Wichita, Kansas
    Oceanographer and underwater archaeologist
    Discovered wrecks of the Titanic (1985), the Bismarck (1989), the Yorktown (1998) and John F. Kennedy's P.T. 109 (2003)
    Received the Explorers Medal, the Hubbard Medal of the National Geographic Society and the National Endowment of the Humanities Medal

Why he might be annoying:

    During an early Titanic expedition, he lost a large hunk of the Alcoa Seaprobe (1977).
    He only got US Navy funding for his Titanic expedition by agreeing to use the search as cover for a top secret Cold War mission to locate wreckage from the nuclear subs Scorpion and Thresher.
    Since under maritime law the recovery of artifacts from a sunken ship is necessary to establish salvage rights, his decision to leave the wreckage untouched allowed the company RMS Titanic Inc to claim salvage rights and commercially exploit the site.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He said his most exciting find is not any of the shipwrecks, but a new ecosystem discovered on the ocean floor off the Galapagos Islands.
    His son Todd died at age 21 in a car crash (1989).
    He called for an international treaty to declare the Titanic an undersea museum and off limits from human exploitation.
    He founded the Jason Project to inspire high school students to study science (1989).
    He commented, 'All kids dream a marvelous image of what they want to do. But then society tells them they can't do it. I didn't listen.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 14 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 13 Votes: 23.08% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 14 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 14 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 5 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 6 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 14 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 25 Votes: 52.00% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 13 Votes: 7.69% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 20 Votes: 55.00% Annoying
    In 2010, Out of 79 Votes: 58.23% Annoying
    In 2009, Out of 22 Votes: 36.36% Annoying
    In 2008, Out of 21 Votes: 33.33% Annoying