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President Thomas Jefferson authorizes the United States Coast Survey. This Survey was done to get complete and accurate charts of the US coastline (navigation).
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Charles Wyville Thomson discovers sea life at 4,389 meters below sea level. He was the first marine biologists to describe life in the deepest depths of the ocean (scientific research).
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A marine research program named after the naval ship the HMS challenge, that made many important discoveries and was the beginning of oceanography. (scientific research)
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The English ship Titanic sinks after it hit an iceberg, killing 1,500 people. The tragedy led the development of an acoustic device that finds objects ahead of a vessel (navigation).
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William Beebe is lowered in a tethered bathysphere, a manned spherical chamber for deep-sea observation,down 923 meters into the ocean. He and partner Otis Barton started manned exploration of the ocean (scientific research).
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Jacques Cousteau and Emile Gagnan modify a breathing regulator to engineer the Aqua-Lung, introducing the world to scuba diving (scientific research and recreation).
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An underwater habitat, Sealab II, is lowered off the coast of California (scientific research).
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Sylvia Earle leads the first team of women aquanauts and sets the record for solo diving to 1000 meters below sea level (scientific research)
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Robert Ballard and a team of researchers discovers the Titanic 3,810 meters (12,500 feet) down. This was the most famous shipwreck in modern history (scientific research and trade).
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TOPEX/Poseidon satellite begins mapping the surface of the sea (scientific research, navigation, and trade).
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Worldwide mapping of the seafloor which is the measurement of water depth of any body of water (scientific research and navigation).