At the beginning of the 20th century, renowned naturalist William Beebe, along with engineer Otis Barton, pioneered a new way of exploring the depths of the ocean. In 1932, Beebe and Barton set off on a remarkable journey in their revolutionary bathysphere – a small, spherical vessel that could dive to an incredible 3,028 feet below the surface of the ocean.

The bathysphere featured a steel frame, lined with an inch of lead, and a viewing port made of three inch-thick glass. It was equipped with life-saving tanks of oxygen and communication cables so Beebe and Barton could stay submerged for hours at a time.

Using their bathysphere, Beebe and Barton made a number of dives and collected vast amounts of data about the previously unexplored depths of the ocean. Their work provided a wealth of new information about oceanic life, and inspired generations of deep sea explorers who would come after them.