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Thalassamania

Expertise

Diving, Diver Training, Diving History, Submersibles, Underwater Photography, Oceanography and Research Diving.

Experience

I've been diving since 1956. My Dad was an archaeologist and got the idea to recover Babylonian artifacts from a barge that sank in the mid 19th century where the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers come together. So he bought two tanks, two regulators, and a copy of the Science of Skin and Scuba (a later edition of which I was later honored to be permitted to contribute to), and we learned how to dive. I continued to dive recreationally (lakes in New York, the New England Coast, North Carolina, Florida, California) ‘till high school when I hooked up with a group that styled itself “Beta Oceanographic Research Inc.” It was basically a dive club that had an agreement with the Pt. Lobos administration that in return for mapping and doing some baseline work they could have unlimited access to the park. I went to university and had a part time job prepping bodies for autopsies at the Coroners Office’s that led to becoming a phlebotomist at a local hospital. The guy who ran the hospital lab was a PADI Instructor and I became his AI (this is about 1970). At the same time I became involved in the research diver training program at the university. I took the 100 hrs. Research Diving Course in the spring quarter, did underwater research in Central America over the summer, was an Assistant Team Leader (AI) in the course in the fall, and a Team Leader (Instructor) for the next course. I remained active, both teaching and conducting research until I received my degree in Zoology. I was accepted to grad school at a major oceanographic institute where I continued my research diving, but there was no organized diving program there. In 1975 I attended a two-week NAUI ITC at the University of Michigan run by Dr. Lee Somers. I returned to my home institution and began teaching other students the 100 hour course I learned during my undergraduate days. To make a long story short, I would up as the Diving Safety Officer and had a chance to do some interesting things and make what where, I hope, some small contributions. I’ve held certifications at many institutions of higher learning, up to a 200 foot card, surface supplied NITROX, mixed-gas, rebreather, chamber operator, instructor, etc. I’ve been an aquanaut (habitat based saturation) and a deep submersible pilot. I helped found the American Academy of Underwater Sciences, served as a national officer of AAUS, and contributed to their standards; I served on the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society's panel on Research Diving Safety, and was also a member of the National Science Foundation panel on Shipboard Diving Safety. I’ve been invited to provide testimony before a number of governmental committees including the Department of Labor, the National Advisory Committee on Oceans and Atmosphere and the Vice President's Committee on Governmental Deregulation. I was in on the early days of the formation of the technical diving community as an editor for aquaCorps Magazine and an organizer of the Tek Conferences. I was elected a National Fellow of the Explorers Club and I am an Associate Member of the Boston Sea Rovers. I'm now semi-retired and work as a consulting taxonomist for a photo agency that represents twenty or so of the top nature (including underwater) photographers in the world. I continue my interests in underwater science; I teach a few private programs each year and write. I am currently working on a book addressing research diver training from both an historical and practical perspective.

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