Don Walsh

Don Walsh is an American oceanographer and former U.S. Navy officer who, with Jacques Piccard, made the first crewed descent to the Mariana Trench’s deepest point in 1960.

Trieste expedition: The 1960 voyage in which the bathyscaphe Trieste carried Don Walsh and Jacques Piccard to the Mariana Trench’s deepest point. Walsh’s defining achievement was commanding this historic descent.
Jacques Piccard: A Swiss oceanographer and engineer who co-piloted the bathyscaphe Trieste with Don Walsh in 1960. Piccard shared the descent with Walsh and helped design the vehicle.
Bathyscaphe: A deep-diving submersible that uses a buoyant float and a pressure-resistant crew sphere to descend and ascend. Trieste was a bathyscaphe, the vehicle type that carried Walsh downward.
Deep-sea exploration: The investigation of ocean regions beyond the reach of ordinary human diving and surface observation. Walsh’s descent became a landmark in the history of human deep-sea access.
Challenger Deep: The deepest known region of the ocean, located within the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific. This was the destination of Walsh and Piccard’s 1960 descent.
Auguste Piccard: A Swiss physicist, inventor, and balloonist who designed the bathyscaphe Trieste. His engineering work created the submersible Walsh later descended in.
Trieste (bathyscaphe): A bathyscaphe designed by Auguste Piccard and modified by the U.S. Navy for extreme-depth dives. Walsh’s crewed dive depended on Trieste’s strengthened pressure sphere and buoyancy system.
Oceanography: The scientific study of the ocean’s physical, chemical, biological, and geological features. Walsh’s naval and research work connected deep-diving engineering with ocean science.
Mariana Trench: A crescent-shaped oceanic trench in the western Pacific that contains Challenger Deep. Walsh’s descent brought the trench’s deepest reaches into public view.
U.S. Navy Electronics Laboratory: A San Diego naval research organization that conducted oceanographic and undersea technology research. Walsh’s Navy research career was closely associated with this laboratory.

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Robert BallardRelated: Walsh’s deep-ocean expertise informed the research community in which Ballard worked.