William Beebe (1877–1962,) fully Charles William Beebe, was an American biologist, explorer, and writer on natural history who combined thorough biological research with unique literary flair. He was the co-inventor of the bathysphere, a unique spherical deep-sea submersible, and established a dive record in 1934 that was broken only in 1949.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Beebe left college before obtaining a degree to work at the newly-opened New York Zoological Park. As curator of ornithology at the New York Zoological Gardens from 1899 and director of tropical research of the New York Zoological Society from 1919, he piloted numerous expeditions.
Beebe was also known for his prolific scientific writing for academic and popular audiences. His well-known works include Jungle Days (1925,) Pheasants, Their Lives and Homes (1926,) Beneath Tropic Seas (1928,) Half Mile Down (1934,) High Jungle (1949,) The Edge of the Jungle (1950,) and Unseen Life of New York (1953.)
American science writer Carol Grant Gould wrote The Remarkable Life of William Beebe (2004.)
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by William Beebe
The marsh, to him who enters it in a receptive mood, holds, besides mosquitoes and stagnation, melody, the mystery of unknown waters, and the sweetness of Nature undisturbed by man.
—William Beebe
Topics: Water
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