Talk:Robert Ballard

Clean up Education
The education section currently lists University of Southern California (PhD); University of Rhode Island (PhD), implying PhDs granted from each instution. He received a PhD from RI, and it should be clarified that he did not complete the USC degree with a note like University of Southern California (PhD) [drafted before degree completion]. His CV indicates, too, that he did not receive a PhD from USC. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.160.246.128 (talk) 18:47, 1 October 2023 (UTC)

Open Letter to Ballard
An interesting read: http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/item/4792/ — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dancemaster (talk • contribs) 10:28, 27 September 2005 (UTC)

Cite all sources please!
I love Wikipedia, but sometimes it is hard to trust articles because they are not cited correctly. A large portion of this article seems to have been lifted from another website without proper citation. Here’s a link to that site:

http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/bal0bio-1

Part of this article’s cleanup should include fixing the errors in citation. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.170.119.246 (talk) 04:21, 14 October 2005 (UTC)

Battleship Bismark
It should be mentioned here that Robert Ballard also discovered the German battleship Bismarck. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jbarrett (talk • contribs) 00:54, 19 November 2005 (UTC)

Too Much Credit
Ballard wasn't part of the team that recently discovered the hull had broken into 3, not 2 pieces.

Quoted from the CNN article, "Explorer Robert Ballard found the bulk of the wreck in 1985, at a depth of 13,000 feet and about 380 miles southeast of Newfoundland. Ballard was not impressed with the expedition's find.

"They found a fragment, big deal," Ballard said. "Am I surprised? No. When you go down there, there's stuff all over the place. It hit an iceberg and it sank. Get over it."

I'm removing it unless someone else can prove otherwise — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.169.14.200 (talk) 05:33, 6 December 2005 (UTC)
 * No, to be truthful the hull of the Titanic broke into dozens of pieces. But only two main pieces. This 3 pieces story has the whiff of sensationalism to it. Brian Schlosser42 13:58, 7 December 2005 (UTC)
 * I look forward to the documentary, so far I haven't found an explanation on why these pieces could not have come off when the ship broke apart. MechBrowman 14:58, 7 December 2005 (UTC)
 * Oh, I am sure that they did berak off during the sinking, but this idea that the ship broke into three big pieces, and not two magor sections (and in only 5 minutes? that is silly, but I've seen that number in two news reports) is wrong on the face of it. the ship broke in between the third and fourth stacks, through the aft 1st class stair and the reciprocating engine room hatch. The bow segment ends at the third funnel casing, and the stern ends at the reciprocating engine room. No more than a 10th of the lenght of the ship is missing there. Brian Schlosser42 02:51, 8 December 2005 (UTC

Editing
I have done some significant editing to this article, adding wikilinks and rephrasing some poorly written statements. I added one "citation needed" template, but the article is loaded with unsourced statements. I'm unable to research sources and rewrite the article, but hopefully the next editor who comes along will be able to make more fundamental changes. Laura1822 18:53, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

Other?
Presumably this is not the Robert Ballard who wrote lute music in the 16th century? Or the publisher? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 129.2.40.144 (talk) 14:22, 23 March 2007 (UTC).

Incorectness
I don't know how it was missed that someone added today that "Three weeks later, depressed by his sons death, Ballard jumped of the empire state builing trajically ending his life. His suicide note only said, "i hope theres oceanography in hell." Ballard was a strong aethiest and resented all religions."

Not only is it incorrect, but it's poorly written. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.135.3.48 (talk • contribs)


 * We not only noticed it, but we reverted it. SchuminWeb (Talk) 22:03, 17 April 2007 (UTC)

How is his son's death relevant in the Bismarck section? It sounds like a conspiracy build-up. Should be moved elsewhere. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.220.33.227 (talk) 08:25, 21 December 2013 (UTC)

Ten Questions for Dr. Ballard
In order for this article to be properly balanced, the significant (however often overlooked) controversy surrounding this particular man's claims as to the extent of his role in the discovery of the Titanic must be touched upon. He has left a a trail of angry people in his wake. The aforementioned Open Letter (the above link to which is apparently dead) from a French oceanographer presents a rather convincing argument against his many statements regarding salvage operations around the vessel. The Titanic International Society called him in to discuss these controversies in 2005, and allegedly received no response from his URI office. TIS wrote these Ten Questions For Robert Ballard following the snub: http://www.revdma2.com/BobQuestions.htm.

Here is a fresh link to the open letter: http://www.titanicfiles.org/Essays_englisch/An%20open%20letter%20to%20Bob%20Ballard.pdf.

No mentions of his books
Currently reading his autobiography, Explorations, however Ballard has written several other books as well. These should be mentioned, I'd think. -- Broken Sphere Msg me 17:28, 17 April 2008 (UTC)


 * Absolutely. I've actually read that book, and it's very good, though now somewhat dated.  It could be a good source for some information, too.  SchuminWeb (Talk) 17:44, 17 April 2008 (UTC)


 * I've checked the book out from my local public library, and so I'm going to be reading it and mining it for citations. SchuminWeb (Talk) 19:44, 22 September 2010 (UTC)

Titanic cover-up allegations
Apparently, Ballard has come out saying that his search for the Titanic was a cover-up for him searching for the wrecks of the USS Thresher and USS Scorpion. Anyone else hear about this? --Kevin W. 19:57, 25 May 2008 (UTC)


 * Yes, but not quite. Ballard got funding for Argo and the expedition from the US Navy, and you know how the old saying goes, that you have to pay to say.  Thus Ballard was obligated to search for the Thresher and the Scorpion and image them first.  After that, he was free to search for Titanic.  For that part of the expedition, the Frenchmen on board were not permitted in the control van, and this Navy work was not reported in Ballard's Titanic books, though it did appear in later books.  SchuminWeb (Talk) 02:29, 26 May 2008 (UTC)

Lacks NR-1 Experience
Page lacks Ballard's NR-1 experience (mostly classified). 70.36.176.224 (talk) 07:24, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

Ancient Black Sea shipwrecks
I spun Ballard's discovery of the Sinop D (as well as A-C) into a new article at Ancient Black Sea shipwrecks. Turns out that the Ballard article was the only article here with information on the topic. The newly spun out article mirrors the text here, and is under a fairly broad article name. Hopefully, we can come up with some more recent information on the topic, as well as create well developed articles for some of the wrecks (Sinop D in particular). Hiberniantears (talk) 21:33, 16 January 2010 (UTC)

Since the info is there, shouldnt this article just link to it rather than repeat it? It seems like a rather lengthy, tangential discussion of the wrecks themselves, when the article should focus on the biography of Ballard.96.32.140.249 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 00:14, 6 October 2012 (UTC)

Pending changes
This article is one of a small number (about 100) selected for the first week of the trial of the Pending Changes system on the English language Wikipedia. All the articles listed at Pending changes/Queue  are being considered for level 1 pending changes protection.

The following request appears on that page:

However with only a few hours to go, comments have only been made on two of the pages.

Please update the page as appropriate.

Note that I am not involved in this project any more than any other editor, just posting these notes since it is quite a big change, potentially.

Regards, Rich Farmbrough, 20:24, 15 June 2010 (UTC).

Missing info
There is a large quantity of missing information from this page including (but not limited to) the details of Bob's service in Naval Intelligence, his discovery of hydrothermal vents, and his background in geology. This interview: http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/bal0int-2 contains a plethora of information with may prove useful. William Ballard 18:21, 4 August 2010 (UTC)


 * Awesome source! Yes - information should be gleaned from this and added.  SchuminWeb (Talk) 18:35, 4 August 2010 (UTC)

Poor sentence?
I'm not particularly enamored with this sentence, "Ballard and his team discovered that they had imploded from the immense pressure depth." The implode was not the result of depth, but immense pressure. Perhaps this should read, "....immense pressure at depth." or "....depth's immense pressure."? - Neil — Preceding unsigned comment added by 146.171.254.65 (talk) 06:42, 1 March 2012 (UTC)
 * WP:SOFIXIT --Muhandes (talk) 18:34, 3 March 2012 (UTC)

=SeaQuest DSV
Ballard performed in SeaQuest series. At the end of episodes he was talk about oceans curiosities. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.254.15.148 (talk) 13:50, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

No words on his pro-oceans explorations recent speeches?
I remember a tv serie and and some speeches where he criticised our 'overfocused' view on space-as-the-frontier and space exploaration, neglegating the 'less cool but as important if not actualy more) oceans exploration, in hope of finding way to perhaps use it's ressources more wisely and even maybe colonise it...

No section on this debate? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.130.1.152 (talk) 04:05, 21 July 2013 (UTC)

Invalid references

 * Ballard's Titanic search was cover-up of secret U.S. mission
 * http://www.cdnn.info/news/industry/i080602a.html
 * A Japanese page about "Let Yakudateyo baby food to the green juice nutrient-rich"
 * Titanic search was cover for secret Cold War subs mission
 * http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article3994955.ece
 * Redirects to a login page
 * The JASON Project - History
 * http://www.jason.org/Public/AboutUS/History.aspx?pos=6
 * 404 - Page not found
 * Institute for Exploration
 * http://www.mysticaquarium.org/DefaultPermissions/INSTITUTEFOREXPLORATION/tabid/274/Default.aspx
 * This is a external link (not a reference)
 * 404 - Page not found

Sorry for not having a clue on how to format this.. But I hope someone with access will fix it :) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.220.33.227 (talk) 08:43, 21 December 2013 (UTC)

In popular culture?
It may not be worth mentioning on his page, but it's the reference that brought me to his page, so I'll mention it. It should perhaps be included in the "television" section that a fictionalized Bob Ballard was regularly referenced as Jack Donaghy's best friend throughout the 6 season run of 30 Rock, and was played in episode S5E16 by Terrence Mann. I have no idea what his relationship to the show is, but if there is information available about that it might merit inclusion.71.234.50.136 (talk) 05:39, 25 December 2014 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 8 October 2015
update link of external website to personal profile to http://www.gso.uri.edu/profile/rballard/. currently listed website returns 404 error

129.100.36.168 (talk) 18:25, 8 October 2015 (UTC)
 * Yes check.svg Done -- Sam Sailor Talk! 19:56, 8 October 2015 (UTC)

External links modified
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External links modified
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 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20080505221815/http://www.mysticaquarium.org/DefaultPermissions/INSTITUTEFOREXPLORATION/tabid/274/Default.aspx to http://www.mysticaquarium.org/DefaultPermissions/INSTITUTEFOREXPLORATION/tabid/274/Default.aspx
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"Implosion"?
One sentence says "He already knew that the Titanic imploded from pressure as well, much the same way the two submarines did, and concluded that it too must have also left a scattered debris trail". But it didn't. The Titanic is resting generally intact on the ocean floor. It broke in two pieces, and the stern collapsed on colliding with the ocean floor, but it did NOT 'implode'. It's not a watertight hull, how could it? Implosion occurs when a vessel full of air, such as a submarine hull, sinks to a depth where the pressure overcomes the structural strength of the hull, and crushes it like a beer can, tearing it to pieces in the meantime. A surface vessel can have internal implosions were air is trapped inside the hull, but there is little reason to suppose that was a significant factor in the case of the Titanic. The debris trail is common with most sinking ships. The Bismarck had a debris trail as well, and that hull is totally intact. With the Titanic the trail was mostly from the hull breaking in two and the wreckage and material from inside the hull spilling out; with the battleship it was from the wreckage cause by the British gunnery. But even a standard shipwreck generates debris trails. Maybe Ballard SUSPECTED it had imploded, which was made him look for a debris trail (this was a new science), and in the end he found one, even though he was wrong about the implosion. My understanding of it was that while searching for the subs he realized that a sinking ship leaves a debris trail, and that could be used to find the vessel. Period.

70.16.212.73 (talk) 17:46, 29 March 2020 (UTC)

Bismarck
"Ballard undertook an even more daunting task when he and his team searched off the coast of France for the German Battleship Bismarck in 1989, using an ocean-crawling robot" It was the Argo. Same one he used on the Titanic search. Confusing to call it an 'ocean crawling robot'. Readers will assume it was some other craft. Seems to imply some autonomous, walking undersea machine that can be programed to go out and search for ships. It was not a 'robot', it was a remotely-piloted vehicle. It was a towed "sled", nothing to do with 'crawling'. And it was called te Argo, and was the same ROV they used to find the Titanic.

70.16.212.73 (talk) 18:19, 29 March 2020 (UTC)

Update personal information
His second wife who he married in 1991 is named Barbra, they meet because she was working at National Geographic with Robert on the Jason Project. She is the mother to his son Ben but also they have a daughter named Emily (b. 1998). Emily is the one who helped her father realize he was dyslexic because she was diagnosed as dyslexic. Esrescuer (talk) 03:28, 15 June 2021 (UTC)

== Semi-protected edit request on 10 June 2021 ==

Robert Ballard has a daughter with Barbara Earle named Emily born in 1997.

Source: Ballard's biography Into the Deep page 200, last paragraph 71.225.14.7 (talk) 19:48, 10 June 2021 (UTC)
 * Red question icon with gradient background.svg Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 11:33, 15 June 2021 (UTC)

His daughter is not mentioned in his personal information. She should be added and I have added citation information.
 * Red question icon with gradient background.svg Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. We need the actual specific text with citation you'd like to add. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 18:26, 15 October 2021 (UTC)

Change the personal information to add "Robert Ballard has a daughter with Barbara Earle named Emily who was born in 1997."
 * ✅ ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 18:41, 15 October 2021 (UTC)