ARCHAEOLOGIST

Robert Ballard

1942 - Today

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Robert Duane Ballard (born June 30, 1942) is an American retired Navy officer and a professor of oceanography at the University of Rhode Island who is noted for his work in underwater archaeology (maritime archaeology and archaeology of shipwrecks) and marine geology. He is best known by the general public for the discoveries of the wrecks of the RMS Titanic in 1985, the battleship Bismarck in 1989, and the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown in 1998. He discovered the wreck of John F. Kennedy's PT-109 in 2002 and visited Biuku Gasa and Eroni Kumana, who saved its crew. Ballard discovered hydrothermal vents, where life goes on powered by nutrient chemicals emitted by the vents rather than the sunlight that drives most life on Earth; he said "finding hydrothermal vents beats the hell out of finding the Titanic", and his mother commented "It's too bad you found that rusty old boat... Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Robert Ballard is the 34th most popular archaeologist (down from 32nd in 2019), the 2,664th most popular biography from United States (down from 2,337th in 2019) and the 4th most popular American Archaeologist.

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Among ARCHAEOLOGISTS

Among archaeologists, Robert Ballard ranks 34 out of 151. Before him are Othniel Charles Marsh, Leo Frobenius, John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury, Paul Pelliot, George Gaylord Simpson, and Bogdan Filov. After him are André Leroi-Gourhan, Ernst Curtius, Ami Boué, Wilhelm Dörpfeld, Henri Breuil, and Paul-Émile Botta.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1942, Robert Ballard ranks 179. Before him are Rei Kawakubo, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Pedro Rocha, Vasily Alekseyev, Richard Williams, and Daniela Bianchi. After him are Eliso Virsaladze, Milton Nascimento, Bill Conti, Mitch McConnell, Gemma Jones, and Ruslan Khasbulatov.

Others Born in 1942

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In United States

Among people born in United States, Robert Ballard ranks 2,664 out of 20,380. Before him are Paul Goodman (1911), Chris Evans (1981), Nan Goldin (1953), Big Van Vader (1955), Elizabeth Holmes (1984), and Pam Grier (1949). After him are Frederick William Franz (1893), Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848), Val Valentino (1956), Billy Gibbons (1949), John Carroll (1735), and Jasper Johns (1930).

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Among ARCHAEOLOGISTS In United States

Among archaeologists born in United States, Robert Ballard ranks 4. Before him are Edward Drinker Cope (1840), Othniel Charles Marsh (1831), and George Gaylord Simpson (1902). After him are James Henry Breasted (1865), Donald Johanson (1943), Sylvanus Morley (1883), Charles W. Gilmore (1874), Edward Robinson (1794), Robert T. Bakker (1945), Stith Thompson (1885), and Lewis Binford (1932).

American born Archaeologists

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