Edith Anne "Edie" Widder Smith (born 1951) is an American

oceanographer Oceanography (), also known as oceanology and ocean science, is the scientific study of the oceans. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of topics, including ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents, waves, and geophysical fluid dynamic ...

marine biologist Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms in the sea. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifi ...

, author and the Co-founder, CEO and Senior Scientist at the Ocean Research & Conservation Association.NOAA Ocean Explorer: OceanAGE Careers
Oceanexplorer.noaa.gov (August 5, 2010). Retrieved on October 21, 2011.

Early life and education

Widder was born in

Arlington, Massachusetts Arlington is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts. The town is six miles (10 km) northwest of Boston, and its population was 46,308 at the 2020 census. History European colonists settled the Town of Arlington in 1635 as a village w ...

to Dr.

David Widder David Vernon Widder (25 March 1898 – 8 July 1990) was an American mathematician. He earned his Ph.D. at Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as ...

, a

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

mathematics professor, and Dr. Vera Widder, a mathematician turned stay at home mother. She also had an older brother, David Charles Widder. She graduated from

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...

''magna cum laude'' with a B.S. in Biology, from

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the U ...

with an M.S. in

Biochemistry Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology and ...

, and from

with a PhD in

Neurobiology Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions and disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, developme ...

, in 1982.

Career

Widder was a senior scientist and director of the Bioluminescence Department at the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution from 1989 to 2005. Certified as a Scientific Research Pilot for Atmospheric Diving Systems in 1984, she holds certifications that qualify her to dive the deep diving suit WASP as well as the single-person untethered submersibles DEEP ROVER and DEEP WORKER and she has made over 250 dives in the

JOHNSON SEA LINK ''Johnson Sea Link'' was a type of deep-sea scientific research submersible built by Edwin Albert Link. Link built the first submersible, ''Johnson Sea Link I'', in 1971 at the request of his friend Seward Johnson, founder of the Harbor Branch O ...

submersibles. Her research involving submersibles has been featured in BBC, PBS, Discovery Channel and National Geographic television productions. A specialist in bioluminescence, she has been a leader in helping to design and invent new instrumentation and techniques that enable scientists to see the ocean in new ways. These include HIDEX, a bathyphotometer, which is the U.S. Navy standard for measuring bioluminescence in the ocean, and a remotely operated camera system, known as Eye in the Sea (EITS), an unobtrusive deep-sea observatory. In 2005, Widder co- founded the Ocean Research & Conservation Association (ORCA), a non-profit organization dedicated to the protection of aquatic ecosystems and the species they sustain through development of innovative technologies and science-based conservation action. While translating complex scientific issues into engineerable solutions, Widder is fostering greater understanding of ocean life as a means to better, more informed ocean stewardship. In September 2006 she was awarded a prestigious

MacArthur Fellowship The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 30 indi ...

from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and in 2010 she participated in the TED Mission Blue Voyage in the Galapagos. In 2012, a team of scientists comprising Edith Widder,

zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and d ...

Tsunemi Kubodera is a Japanese zoologist with the National Museum of Nature and Science. On September 30, 2004, Kubodera and his team became the first people to ''photograph'' a live giant squid in its natural habitat.Kubodera, T. & K. Mori 2005First-ever observa ...

and

Steve O'Shea successfully filmed a live

giant squid The giant squid (''Architeuthis dux'') is a species of deep-ocean dwelling squid in the family Architeuthidae. It can grow to a tremendous size, offering an example of abyssal gigantism: recent estimates put the maximum size at around Trac ...

(''Architeuthis dux'') in its natural habitat aboard Oceanx's MV Alucia. In 2019, Edith Widder and

Nathan J. Robinson Nathan James Robinson (born c. 1989) is an English-American journalist, political commentator, and editor-in-chief of the left-wing progressive ''Current Affairs'' magazine, which he founded in 2015. Early life and education Born in Steven ...

filmed the first-ever footage of a live giant squid recorded in US waters. This expedition was aboard the R/V Point Sur of the

University of Southern Mississippi The University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss or USM) is a public research university with its main campus located in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award bachelor's, ma ...

Personal life

Widder is married to David Smith, a computer engineer.

Awards

* 2006 MacArthur Fellows Program * 2015 Roy Chapman Andrews Society Distinguished Explorer Award * 2018 Explorers Club Citation of Merit *2019 Eleanor Fletcher Lifetime Achievement Award * 2020 Captain Don Walsh Award for Ocean Exploration established by the Marine Technology Society and the Society of Underwater Technology

Publications

Selected publications include: * * * * * * * * * * * Johnsen, S. and E.A. Widder. (1999) The physical basis of transparency in biological tissue: Ultrastructure and the minimization of light scattering. J. Theor. Biol. 199: 181–198 * *Robinson, N.; Johnsen, S.; Brooks, A.; Frey, L.; Judkins, H.; Vecchione, M.; Widder, E. (2021)
"Studying the swift, smart, and shy: Unobtrusive camera-platforms for observing large deep-sea squid."
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Books

* The Bioluminescence Coloring Book
Below the Edge of Darkness: A Memoir of Exploring Light and Life in the Deep Sea

References

External links

''Gulf of Maine Times'', Lisa Capone, 2007 * Erik Olsen

''New York Times'', December 19, 2011. * *
"Glowing life in an underwater world" (Mission Blue Voyage 2010)
*
"The weird, wonderful world of bioluminescence" (TED2011)
*
"How we found the giant squid" (TED2013)

"Ocean Enlightenment: A conversation with Edie Widder"
''Ideas Roadshow'', 2013 {{DEFAULTSORT:Widder, Edith 1951 births Living people American marine biologists American oceanographers Tufts University School of Arts and Sciences alumni University of California, Santa Barbara alumni MacArthur Fellows