Oceanographer Dawn Wright has become the first Black woman to reach the Earth’s deepest point.
According to CBS, Wright is the first Black woman and Black person to reach the deepest-known point of Earth’s seabed, also known as Challenger Deep. A marine geology and geography specialist at the Environmental Systems Research Institute, she said the famous Apollo 8 mission (1968) inspired her latest achievement.
“It was partly fueled by the Apollo 11 mission,” the trailblazing oceanographer said. “If those men could land on the moon, I thought, ‘Well, why can’t I go the opposite direction and explore the oceans?'”
Challenger Deep is reportedly seven miles below the surface, over six times deeper than the Grand Canyon and almost triple the depth of the Titanic. It’s only been seen by a few, but that didn’t stop Wright from taking a journey there. Her task was to bring back the first high-resolution mapping of it, as less than a quarter of the world’s seafloor is mapped “to sufficient detail,” she said.
Nicknamed Deep-Sea Dawn, Wright said back in the day, specifically in the ’70s and ’80s, there weren’t many oceanographers in general. Even fewer of them were reportedly Black.
“I spent several years at sea as a marine technician. And there were men on the ship that I was on who didn’t believe that women should be there,” she said. “That is the story, an age-old story. It’s still an issue.”
Her journey to the bottom of the Earth reportedly took her four times deeper than she had ever gone before. There, she experienced over 100,000 tons of pressure on the outside of her submersible–a small watercraft created to operate underwater.
After spending 10 hours at the extreme depths of the planet, Wright emerged and went back to the pitching deck of her research vessel, where she began analyzing her research.
Despite such a groundbreaking accomplishment, however, she felt a bit sad due to her mother’s passing in December 2021. She told CBS that her mom wanted to witness her make history.
“She wanted to be able to live to see this, but she is watching from heaven,” Wright said.
