Edith Widder

Edith Widder
Widder in the Johnson Sea Link submersible, July 2009
Born	Edith Anne Widder (1951-06-11) June 11, 1951 Arlington, Massachusetts, United States
Other names	Edith "Edie" Anne Widder Smith
Residence	Florida
Citizenship	American
Fields	Oceanography and marine biology
Education	Tufts University (B.S. 1973) University of California, Santa Barbara (M.S. 1977, Ph.D. 1982)
Known for	Bioluminescence research
Notable awards	MacArthur Fellow (2006)
Spouse	David Smith

Edith Anne "Edie" Widder Smith (born June 11, 1951^[1][2]) is an American oceanographer, marine biologist, and the Co-founder, CEO and Senior Scientist at the Ocean Research & Conservation Association.^[3][4][5]

Early life and education

Widder was born in June 1951 in Arlington, Massachusetts^[6] to Dr. David Widder, a Harvard University mathematics professor, and Dr. Vera Widder, a mathematician turned stay at home mother.^[7] She also had an older brother, David Charles Widder.^[8]

She graduated from Tufts University magna cum laude with a B.S. in Biology, from University of California, Santa Barbara with an M.S. in Biochemistry, and from University of California, Santa Barbara with a PhD in Neurobiology, in 1982.^[9]

Career

Widder was a senior scientist and director of the Bioluminescence Department at the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution from 1989 to 2005.^[10] 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^[4] as well as the single-person untethered submersibles DEEP ROVER and DEEP WORKER^[11] and she has made over 250 dives in the JOHNSON SEA LINK submersibles.^[12] Her research involving submersibles has been featured in BBC, PBS, Discovery Channel and National Geographic television productions.^[13][14][15]

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,^[16] and a remotely operated camera system, known as Eye in the Sea (EITS), an unobtrusive deep-sea observatory.^[17][18][19]

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 from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation^[20] and in 2010 she participated in the TED Mission Blue Voyage in the Galapagos.^[21]

In 2012, a team of scientists comprising Edith Widder, marine biologist Steve O'Shea and zoologist Tsunemi Kubodera successfully filmed a live giant squid (Architeuthis dux) in its natural habitat.^[22]

Personal life

Widder is married to David Smith, a computer engineer.^[23]

Awards

• 2006 MacArthur Fellows Program

Publications

• Widder, E. A.; Latz, M. I.; Herring, P. J.; Case, J. F. (1984). "Far Red Bioluminescence from Two Deep-Sea Fishes". Science. 225 (4661): 512–514. doi:10.1126/science.225.4661.512. PMID 17750854. 
• Widder, E. A.; Bernstein, S. A.; Bracher, D. F.; Case, J. F.; Reisenbichler, K. R.; Torres, J. J.; Robison, B. H. (1989). "Bioluminescence in the Monterey Submarine Canyon: Image analysis of video recordings from a midwater submersible". Marine Biology. 100 (4): 541–551. doi:10.1007/BF00394831. 
• Widder, E. A. (2009). "Mixed light imaging system for recording bioluminescence behaviours". Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. 72: 131. doi:10.1017/S0025315400048839. 
• Widder, E. A.; Greene, C. H.; Youngbluth, M. J. (1992). "Bioluminescence of sound-scattering layers in the Gulf of Maine". Journal of Plankton Research. 14 (11): 1607–1624. doi:10.1093/plankt/14.11.1607. 
• Widder, E.; Case, J.; Bernstein, S.; MacIntyre, S.; Lowenstine, M.; Bowlby, M.; Cook, D. (1993). "A new large volume bioluminescence bathyphotometer with defined turbulence excitation". Deep-Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers. 40 (3): 607–627. doi:10.1016/0967-0637(93)90148-V. 
• Widder, E.A. (1997) Bioluminescence – Shedding some light on plankton distribution patterns. Sea Technology March 1997:33–39.
• Widder, E. A. (1998). "A predatory use of counterillumination by the squaloid shark, Isistius brasiliensis". Environmental Biology of Fishes. 53 (3): 267–273. doi:10.1023/A:1007498915860. 
• Widder, E.A. (1999) Bioluminescence. In: “Adaptive Mechanisms in the Ecology of Vision.” Edited by: S.N. Archer, M.B.A. Djamgoz, E. Loew, J.C. Partridge & S. Vallerga. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, the Netherlands. pp 555–581.
• Johnsen, S., E.J. Balser and E.A. Widder. (1999) Modified suckers as light organs in a deep-sea octopod. Nature 398:113–114.
• Widder, E. A.; Johnsen, S.; Bernstein, S. A.; Case, J. F.; Neilson, D. J. (1999). "Thin layers of bioluminescent copepods found at density discontinuities in the water column". Marine Biology. 134 (3): 429–437. doi:10.1007/s002270050559. 
• 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
• Widder, E.A and S. Johnsen (2000) 3D spatial point patterns of bioluminescent plankton: A map of the “minefield” J. Plank. Res. 22(3): 409–420.
• Widder, E.A. (2000) Bioluminescence in octopods. Yearbook of Science and Technology. McGraw-Hill 2001: 52–55.
• Herring, P.J. and E.A. Widder (2001) Bioluminescence in plankton and nekton. In; Steele, J.H., Thorpe, S.A. and Turekian, K.K. editors, Encyclopedia of Ocean Science, Vol. 1, 308–317. Academic Press, San Diego.
• Widder, E. A.; Frank, T. M. (2001). "The speed of an isolume: A shrimp's eye view". Marine Biology. 138 (4): 669–677. doi:10.1007/s002270000504. 
• Widder, E.A. (2001) Bioluminescence. Bioscience Explained http://www.bioscience-explained.org/EN1.1/features.html Invited review.
• Widder, E. (2002). "Bioluminescence and the Pelagic Visual Environment". Marine and Freshwater Behaviour and Physiology. 35: 1–26. doi:10.1080/10236240290025581. 
• Widder, E. A. (2002). "SPLAT CAM: Mapping plankton distributions with bioluminescent road-kill": 1711–1715. doi:10.1109/OCEANS.2002.1191891. 
• Widder, Edith (2002). The Bioluminescence Coloring Book. Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution. ISBN 978-0-9659686-6-9. 
• Widder, E.A., C.L. Frey and L.J. Borne (2003) HIDEX Generation II: A New and Improved Instrument for Measuring Marine Bioluminescence. Marine Technology Society of the IEEE, Oceans 4:2214–2221
• Widder, E.A., C.L. Frey and J.R. Bowers (2005) Improved bioluminescence measurement instrument. Sea Technology 46(2): 10–16
• Widder, E.; Robison, B.; Reisenbichler, K.; Haddock, S. (2005). "Using red light for in situ observations of deep-sea fishes". Deep-Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers. 52 (11): 2077–2085. doi:10.1016/j.dsr.2005.06.007. 
• Widder, E.A. (2006) A look back at quantifying oceanic bioluminescence: Seeing the light, flashes of insight and other bad puns. Mar Tech Soc J. 40(2):136–137.
• Widder, E.A. (2007) Sly eye for the shy guy: Peering into the depths with new sensors Oceanography. 20(4): 46–51 (invited review)
• Widder, E. A. (2010). "Bioluminescence in the Ocean: Origins of Biological, Chemical, and Ecological Diversity". Science. 328 (5979): 704–708. doi:10.1126/science.1174269. PMID 20448176. 

Further reading

• Collard, Sneed B. (2006). In the Deep Sea. New York: Marshall Cavendish Benchmark. ISBN 978-0-7614-1952-5. 

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Edith Widder.

• "Profile: Edith Widder", Science Now
• "Q&A: Edith Widder, MacArthur Fellow", Gulf of Maine Times, Lisa Capone, 2007
• Erik Olsen, "Illuminating the Perils of Pollution, Nature’s Way", New York Times, December 19, 2011.
• Edith Widder at TED
  
  • "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