activities onboard the Atlantis live via satellite over the internet, Gene also collected daily measurements to help verify the atmospheric correction algorithms for SeaWiFS. Also, the Atlantis provided a great subject for photography.
Finally satisfying a lifelong dream, Gene spent two weeks standing watches, chipping paint, swabbing decks, tarring footropes, washing dishes, scraping and painting knees, pumping bilges, hauling lines, climbing ratlines, furling sails and in general, having an incredible experience, as he sailed onboard the wooden tallship "HMS" Rose from Miami to New York City. Not long after this trip, the HMS Rose was completely refit and was reborn as the HMS Surprise, appearing in the 20th Century fox film Master and Commander: Far Side of the World starring Russell Crowe and directed by Peter Weir.
More recently, Gene has been involved in helping tell the story of the Ben Franklin, a research submersible built by the Grumman Aerospace Corporation that at 8:56 P.M. July 14, 1969, carrying six brave aquanauts, slipped beneath the surface of the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Palm Beach, Florida on a mission to explore the secrets of the Gulf Stream. This longest privately-sponsored undersea experiment which NASA took part in, ended more than 30-days and 1,444 nautical miles later, when the Franklin and its crew surfaced some 300 miles south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, at 7:58 A.M. August 14, 1969.
As they say, the rest is history.....a history that largely remained untold, until now.
A one-hour documentary including a special interview with Walter Cronkite has just been broadcast on the Discovery's Science Channel. Telling the story of the Ben Franklin and the Apollo 11 mission to the moon that by a quirk of fate took place during the same week in July 1969, these two missions ended a decade of exploration, unsurpassed and as yet unequaled in human history.
After studying the Galapagos Islands from space for over twenty-five years, Gene was finally able to follow in Darwin's footsteps and visit one of the most remarkable ecosystems in the world. While in the Archipelago, he sent back journals, photographs and movies to share his remarkable experience.
As you can tell, water plays a major role in Gene's life....he enjoys the ocean,lakes, rivers, ponds.....just about anything that contains water - except his basement.
He spends as much time as possible sailing or paddling around on the Chesapeake Bay, exploring some of the many natural, and oftentimes, unnatural wonders that this area has to offer, and often refers to himself as an urban kayaker because of the more unusual places he prefers to paddle, generally with his camera by his side.
Gene earned his Ph.D. in Coastal Oceanography from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and lives in a 120 year old farmhouse along with his dog, Max,which gives him the opportunity to ride around on a little tractor, to dig in the dirt, and do death-defying feats with sharp tools.