Under the Sea

Dr. David Gallo on the radio, 6/25/10

Our friend Dave Gallo was in town last week. He's pretty fond of Ashland, KY, and every two or three years he returns to speak at the museum, gratis.

Dr. Gallo always brings along astounding footage full of amazing creatures and new discoveries made by himself and his colleagues at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (and this year he impressed me with the DC and Marvel Comics apps on his iPad).

As I said in my introduction to his museum talk, I believe Dave's true genius lies in taking complex issues and ideas, and presenting them in a way that's easily understandable by people like me. And he does it with a sense of wonder and enthusiasm that is contagious.

He told us about a cool project that is taking him back to Titanic later this summer. Dave is also the project leader on the search for Air France 447, and he's now involved in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Dr. David Gallo and Norma Kay

As I also mentioned at the museum, when I heard that Dave was working on finding an answer to the oil spill problem, I felt a tiny glimmer of hope that this mess was actually going to get fixed.

No sooner than he landed at the airport it seemed he had to fly off again, to meetings in Washington, then France. It was great to spend a little time with him.

As director of special projects with Woods Hole, he also must occasionally have dinner with Angelina Jolie and Catherine Zeta-Jones, so you can see why I now want to be an oceanographer when I grow up.