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

oceanographer Oceanography (), also known as oceanology, sea science, ocean science, and marine science, is the scientific study of the ocean, including its physics, chemistry, biology, and geology. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of top ...

marine biologist Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms that inhabit 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 clas ...

, 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, United States. The town is six miles (10 km) northwest of Boston, Massachusetts, Boston, and its population was 46,308 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. History Europe ...

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 in 1924 under George Birkhoff and went on to join the faculty there. He was a co-founder of the ''Duke Mathematical Jour ...

, a

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

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 in Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts, United States, with additional facilities in Boston and Grafton, as well as Talloires, France. Tufts also has several Doctor of Physical Therapy p ...

''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 university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an ...

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, a ...

, 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 its disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, ...

, in 1982.

Career

Widder was a senior scientist and director of the Bioluminescence Department at the

Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute (HBOI, FAU Harbor Branch) is a non-profit oceanographic institution operated by Florida Atlantic University in Fort Pierce, Florida, United States. Founded in 1971 as non-profit research organization, the i ...

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. 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 ...

submersibles. Her research involving submersibles has been featured in BBC, PBS, Discovery Channel, and National Geographic television productions. A specialist in

bioluminescence Bioluminescence is the emission of light during a chemiluminescence reaction by living organisms. Bioluminescence occurs in multifarious organisms ranging from marine vertebrates and invertebrates, as well as in some Fungus, fungi, microorgani ...

, 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 protecting aquatic ecosystems and the species they sustain by developing innovative technologies and science-based conservation action. While translating complex scientific issues into engineerable solutions, Widder is fostering a 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 colloquially called the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the MacArthur Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to typically between 20 and ...

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 ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...

Tsunemi Kubodera and

Steve O'Shea successfully filmed a live

giant squid The giant squid (''Architeuthis dux'') is a species of deep-ocean dwelling squid A squid (: squid) is a mollusc with an elongated soft body, large eyes, eight cephalopod limb, arms, and two tentacles in the orders Myopsida, Oegopsida, ...

(''Architeuthis dux'') in its natural habitat aboard Oceanx's MV Alucia. In 2019, Edith Widder and Nathan J. Robinson filmed the first-ever footage of a live giant squid recorded in US waters. It was filmed 100 miles southeast of

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

in the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...

. 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 university, public research university with its main campus in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award bac ...

Personal life

Widder is married to David Smith, a computer engineer.

Awards and honors

* 2006

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

* 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. {{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