Otis Barton
Born
Frederick Otis Barton Jr.

(1899-06-05)June 5, 1899
New York, U.S.
DiedApril 15, 1992(1992-04-15) (aged 92)
Alma materHarvard College[1]
Occupation(s)Deep-sea diver, inventor, actor

Frederick Otis Barton Jr. (June 5, 1899 – April 15, 1992) was an American deep-sea diver, inventor and actor.

Early life and career

Born in New York, the independently wealthy Barton designed the first bathysphere and made a dive with William Beebe off Bermuda in June 1930. They set the first record for deep-sea diving by descending 600 ft (180 m). In 1934, they set another record at 3,028 ft (923 m). Barton acted in the 1938 Hollywood movie, Titans of the Deep.

Later career

In 1949, Barton set a new world record with a 4,500 foot (1,372 m) dive in the Pacific Ocean, using his benthoscope (from the Greek benthos, meaning 'sea bottom', and scopein, 'to view'), which was designed by Barton and Maurice Nelles.[2][3]

Barton wrote the book The World Beneath the Sea, published in 1953. Like Beebe, Barton was also interested in exploring tropical rain forests, and spent considerable time in places like Gabon. In 1978, Barton successfully tested a "jungle spaceship" (actually an airship) that was intended to film wildlife.[4]

Taxon described by him

  • See Category:Taxa named by Frederick Otis Barton Jr.

References

  1. ↑ "Bathysphere and Its Pioneers of the Deep - Clara Bush".
  2. ↑ "Deep Dip". Time. 1949-08-29. Archived from the original on September 27, 2010. Retrieved 2011-12-27.
  3. ↑ "Harvard University Obituary and Death Notice Collection - 104". 2011-01-18. Retrieved 2011-12-27.
  4. ↑ "DENDRONAUTICS - Canopy access". Archived from the original on 2007-01-27. Retrieved 2006-06-14.

Further reading

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