The 1970s Science and Technology: Headline Makers

Robert Ballard (1942–) Geologist and ocean explorer Robert Ballard, along with his colleagues, discovered a thriving community of crabs, eels, and tube worms on the ocean floor near the Galapagos Islands in 1977. These animals existed far below the reach of sunlight, at the mouths of volcano-like structures, areas previously thought to be too hot and remote to support life. Ballard and his team theorized that these deep ocean vents spewed sulfur-rich water, which fed bacteria living nearby; larger animals in turn fed on the bacteria. This process, the scientists suggested, might be similar to how life on Earth began.

Jacques Cousteau (1910–1997) In the 1970s, French oceanographer and explorer Jacques Cousteau exposed millions of American viewers (and others around the world) to life under the sea through the ABC television documentary series The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau. Aboard his ship, the Calypso, Cousteau, his sons, and his crew explored marine life and environments around the world, raising awareness of environmental dangers threatening Earth's oceans. In 1970, he also produced twelve one-hour episodes of a series titled The Undersea Odyssey of the "Calypso," followed by six more shows in 1973.

Arno Penzias (1933–) Astrophysicist Arno Penzias and his colleague Robert W. Wilson (1936–) shared the 1978 Nobel Prize for physics for a discovery they had made in 1965. While scanning an area of space where no radio waves were expected, they detected a weak hiss of radio noise. Further exploration found this unexpected noise coming from all areas of space. Applying another astronomer's theory, Penzias and Wilson determined the mysterious radio signal was radiation (now called the cosmic microwave background) left over from the formation of the universe. This discovery substantiated the big bang theory of the creation of the universe.

Edward O. Wilson (1929–) Biologist Edward O. Wilson combined biology and culture when he asserted in his 1975 book Sociobiology that many social behaviors, such as aggression and altruism, were not learned but were built into a person's genes. Critics argued that Wilson's approach allowed undesirable human behaviors (rape, for instance) to be viewed as natural. In 1978, Wilson published On Human Nature, in which he clarified his controversial views and discussed free will, ethics, and human development. The book won the 1979 Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction.