David A. Bright (June 29, 1957 – July 8, 2006) was an American underwater explorer and diver. He was the president of the Nautical Research Group, which he founded in 2003, and an avid contributor to documentaries on shipwrecks.

Early life

Bright was born in

Niagara Falls, New York Niagara Falls is a City (New York), city in Niagara County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a total population of 48,671. It is adjacent to the Niagara River, across from the city of Niagar ...

in 1957. He was on his school's swimming team and one of his coaches asked if he would be interested in taking scuba lessons. He became a certified scuba diver at 13 years of age and started diving around the New York and Canadian areas. He received two bachelor's degrees in

biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

, and two years later got a masters in

Physiology Physiology (; ) is the science, scientific study of function (biology), functions and mechanism (biology), mechanisms in a life, living system. As a branches of science, subdiscipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ syst ...

, all from

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with ca ...

Diving career

After working for pharmaceutical companies, including

Pfizer Pfizer Inc. ( ) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Pharmaceutical industry, pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation headquartered at The Spiral (New York City), The Spiral in Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 184 ...

, Bright returned to diving full-time. He began searching famous wrecks like , , , and . His findings helped him get into many documentaries about shipwrecks. He was a member of the

Explorers Club The Explorers Club is an American-based international multidisciplinary professional society with the goal of promoting scientific exploration and field study. The club was founded in New York City in 1904 and has served as a meeting point for ex ...

, the

Marine Technology Society The Marine Technology Society (MTS) is a professional society that serves an international community of approximately 2,000 ocean engineers, technologists, policy-makers, and educators. The goal of the society, which was founded in 1963, is to pro ...

American Academy of Underwater Sciences The American Academy of Underwater Sciences (AAUS) is a group of scientific organizations and individual members who conduct scientific and educational activities underwater. It was organized in 1977 and incorporated in the State of California in ...

North American Society for Oceanic History The North American Society for Oceanic History (NASOH) is the national organization in the United States of America for professional historians, underwater archeologists, archivists, librarians, museum specialists and others working in the broad f ...

, Maritime Archaeological and Historical Society and the Pennsylvania State University Eberly College of Science Alumni Board of Directors.

''Andrea Doria''

Bright repeatedly dived on the SS ''Andrea Doria'' shipwreck, near

Nantucket Nantucket () is an island in the state of Massachusetts in the United States, about south of the Cape Cod peninsula. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck Island, Tuckernuck and Muskeget Island, Muskeget, it constitutes the Town and Co ...

, to research the ship's demise. His first expedition to the wreck showed that the ''Stockholm'' had caused much more damage to the ''Doria'' than had been originally thought. He kept diving to what many considered the Mount Everest of diving, even after 13 other divers died exploring the wreck. On July 8, 2006, while diving to determine if any damage was caused to the keel of the ship, Bright suffered from

decompression sickness Decompression sickness (DCS; also called divers' disease, the bends, aerobullosis, and caisson disease) is a medical condition caused by dissolved gases emerging from Solution (chemistry), solution as bubbles inside the body tissues during D ...

and went into cardiac arrest. He was pronounced dead at Cape Cod Hospital.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bright, David 1957 births 2006 deaths American underwater divers People from Niagara Falls, New York Underwater diving deaths