The character arc of Sylvia Earle

A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record

Born on 30 August 1935 in Gibbstown, New Jersey, to parents who were enthusiastic about the outdoors, and raised on the west coast of Florida. Between then and now sit an associate degree in 1952, a bachelor's in 1955, a master's in 1956 and a doctorate in 1966, a rejection from the Tektite habitat programme in 1969 despite a thousand research hours underwater, the first all-female aquanaut team led in 1970, a women's depth record of 381 metres set in 1979, a submersible company founded in 1982, the chief scientist's post at a national agency in 1990, and Mission Blue founded in 2009. The line below draws the story so far, in order.

Tap the line to pluck it. Hover or tap any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of her life; the sources are at the foot of the page.

Who is Sylvia Earle?

Turned down in 1969, and leading the team in 1970.

She was born in New Jersey to parents who encouraged her interest in the natural world, and the family moved to the west coast of Florida during her childhood, which is where the ocean starts on this line. She took an associate degree in 1952, a bachelor's in 1955, a master's in 1956 and a doctorate in phycology, the study of algae, in 1966. She was a Radcliffe scholar and a research fellow at Harvard for more than a decade, and directed a marine laboratory in Florida.

In 1969 she applied to join a programme that put scientists in a habitat fifty feet below the surface for weeks at a time. She had logged more than a thousand research hours underwater. She was rejected. The following year she was selected to lead the first all-female team of aquanauts in the next mission, which is the tidiest one-year reversal in this whole gallery.

Then the numbers get serious. In 1979 she made an untethered dive in an atmospheric suit to the sea floor near Oahu and set a women's depth record of three hundred and eighty one metres, which still stands. She was a museum curator of algae for seven years, founded a submersible engineering company with her husband in 1982 that built a research submarine capable of a thousand metres, and in 1990 left it to become the first woman appointed chief scientist of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. She founded a second marine engineering company in 1992, has held the title of National Geographic Explorer at Large since 1998, was named that magazine's first Hero for the Planet the same year, and founded Mission Blue in 2009. She is sometimes called Her Deepness.

The moments

Sylvia Earle's timeline.

The 1930s

30 Aug 1935

Born in New Jersey

Everyday. Parents who encouraged it, and then a move to the coast.

The 1960s

~1966

A doctorate in algae

Milestone, and it changed her direction. Fourteen years of study, ending in a doctorate on seaweed.

~1969

Rejected from the habitat

Setback, and it changed everything. A thousand hours under the water already, and they said no.

1 Jun 1969

Apply again after the no

Crossroads, decided.

The paths laid out: put her name in again, taken, or take the rejection. She led the first all-female team of aquanauts, and set a women's depth record in 1979 that still stands.

The 1970s

~1970

She leads the next one

Milestone, and it changed everything. Rejected one year, leading the mission the next.

~1979

Three hundred and eighty one metres

Milestone, and it changed everything. Untethered, on the sea floor, a quarter of a mile down.

The 1980s

~1982

A submarine company

Milestone, and it changed her direction. If the machine to go deeper does not exist, build the machine.

The 1990s

~1990

The first woman in the post

Milestone, and it changed everything. The first woman to hold it, and she left a company to take it.

~1992

A second company

Milestone. A second engineering company, now run by her daughter.

~1998

Explorer, and Hero

Milestone, and it changed everything. Two titles in one year, and a five year expedition programme with them.

The 2000s

~2009

Mission Blue

Milestone, and it changed everything. An organisation of her own, at seventy four.

The 2010s

Jul 2012

Back under the water

Milestone, and it changed her direction. Seventy six years old, and living under the sea again.

Ninety one years old, and she is still the one they call when something goes wrong in the water. What it has set moving is not one record but a door: the first all-female team of aquanauts happened because one rejected applicant applied again, and everything in marine science that followed was built on the far side of it.

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Sylvia Earle: frequently asked questions

What people ask about her line.

What is Sylvia Earle's character arc?

A marine biologist who took four degrees ending in a doctorate on algae, was rejected from an underwater habitat programme in 1969 despite a thousand hours of research diving, led the first all-female aquanaut team the following year, and set a depth record that still stands.

Was Sylvia Earle rejected from Tektite?

Yes, in 1969, although she had logged more than a thousand research hours underwater. The following year she was selected to lead the first all-female team of aquanauts on the next mission, living fifty feet below the surface for weeks.

What depth record does Sylvia Earle hold?

Three hundred and eighty one metres, set in 1979 on an untethered open-ocean dive in an atmospheric diving suit to the sea floor near Oahu. It is the women's depth record and it still stands.

What did Sylvia Earle do at NOAA?

She was chief scientist of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration from 1990 to 1992, the first woman to hold the post. During it she led research trips in 1991 to assess the environmental damage from destroyed oil wells in Kuwait.

What companies did Sylvia Earle found?

Two. Deep Ocean Engineering, founded in 1982 with her husband, which built a research submarine capable of a thousand metres, and Deep Ocean Exploration and Research in 1992, which is now run by her daughter.

Why is Sylvia Earle called Her Deepness?

Because of the diving. She has lived in an underwater habitat, walked untethered on the sea floor at three hundred and eighty one metres, and has held the title of National Geographic Explorer at Large since 1998, the year she was also named the first Hero for the Planet.

Where does this timeline of Sylvia Earle's life come from?

From the public record. Character Arc drew every moment on this line from the sources listed at the foot of the page, and the kind and weight of each moment are our editorial reading. Sylvia Earle isn't a Member of Character Arc and has no connection with it, and no feeling is attributed to her.

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Sources

Sylvia Earle, English Wikipedia biography, filed under living people.
Britannica, biography of Sylvia Earle.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration records, chief scientist, 1990 to 1992.