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| The Piccard family |
by senior contributor Brendan Kownacki
Mark Twain encouraged folks to "explore, dream, discover" and the
team from the National Geographic Society would likely agree. Thursday
night they hosted their annual "Evening of Exploration" awards
ceremony to honor the best of the best who have sought out new
territory and tackled the toughest boundaries.
The first of the two major awards presented by
the society was The Hubbard Medal, first awarded in 1906 and named for
Gardiner Greene Hubbard, the first President of the National Geographic
Society. The medal has been presented to explorers of all types in the
past; polar pioneers, aviators, astronauts and this year, posthumously
to Jacques Piccard for his achievement in reaching the depths of the
Mariana Trench in 1960.........the first to ever descend to the deepest areas
of the ocean floor.
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| James Cameron, Capt. Don Walsh and Jacques Piccard |
The award was presented by film maker and NatGeo Explorer-in-Residence James Cameron, known for many of his films including the epic Titanic. Before and after the film, Cameron spent dozens of hours beneath the waves diving in the wreck of the great ship and exploring his passion for the sea, helping to gain him explorer residency with NatGeo.
Recently, he became the only person to repeat the depth of Piccard's dive since 1960. Also on hand was Capt. Don Walsh who was aboard the bathyscaphe Trieste with Piccard when they achieved their record setting dive.
Accepting the prize for the late Jacques Piccard was
his family, including his son Bertrand who also won The Hubbard Medal in
1999 after becoming the first person to circumnavigate the globe in a
non-stop balloon flight. Piccard embodies the explorer spirit, saying
that he chose a balloon over a plane or other vehicle because "nobody
had done it before." He argued though that it wasn't simply just a
stride to break new ground, but he wanted to make his flight knowing
that "people said it was impossible."
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| Terry Garcia and Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner |
Also being honored was Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner who was named Explorer of the year. The Austrian mountaineer is the first woman to ever summit all 14 of the world's tallest peaks without using supplementary oxygen including reaching the top of K2, the second tallest mountain on Earth.
"When people say something is impossible, the people
you work with are creative.......if they know it can be done, people are
lazy," noted Bertrand Piccard about the lessons he gained along the way
and would offer to future explorers.
Explore. Dream. Discover.
The Awards:
