Sylvia A. Earle

A leading American oceanographer, Sylvia A. Earle was among the first underwater explorers to make use of modern self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (scuba) gear. She also identified many new species of marine life. With her former husband, Graham Hawkes, Earle designed and built a submersible ocean craft that could dive to unprecedented depths of 3,000 feet. She was the first woman to be named chief scientist of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Sylvia Alice Reade Earle was born in Gibbstown, New Jersey, on August 30, 1935, the daughter of Lewis Reade Earle and Alice Freas Richie Earle. Both of her parents enjoyed the outdoors, and after the family moved to the west coast of Florida they encouraged her...