William Beebe

(1877 - 1962)

Considered one of the founders of ecological study, William Beebe traveled to Asia, South America, and the Galapagos Islands to conduct research on tropical birds in the 1910s and 1920s. In 1925 he began helmet diving and discussed the possibility of deeper dives with his friend Theodore Roosevelt, but neither man had the engineering skills to create a proper vessel. In 1949 he founded a research station in Trinidad; his work there continued until his death from pneumonia in 1962.