Edith Anne "Edie" Widder Smith (born 1951) is an American oceanographer, marine biologist, author, and the co-founder, CEO and Senior Scientist at the Ocean Research & Conservation Association.[1][2][3]
Widder was a senior scientist and director of the Bioluminescence Department at the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution from 1989 to 2005.[8] 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[2] as well as the single-person untethered submersibles DEEP ROVER and DEEP WORKER.[9] She has made over 250 dives in the JOHNSON SEA LINK submersibles.[10] Her research involving submersibles has been featured in BBC, PBS, Discovery Channel, and National Geographic television productions.[11][12][13]
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,[14] and a remotely operated camera system, known as Eye in the Sea (EITS), an unobtrusive deep-sea observatory.[15][16][17]
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 from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation[18] and in 2010 she participated in the TED Mission Blue Voyage in the Galapagos.[19]
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. Bibcode:1999MarBi.134..429W. doi:10.1007/s002270050559. S2CID18255901.
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
^"The Art of Exploration"(PDF). The Kennedy Center Imagination Celebration Fort Worth. Archived from the original(PDF) on August 10, 2007. Retrieved November 19, 2014.
^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. Bibcode:1993DSRI...40..607W. doi:10.1016/0967-0637(93)90148-V.
^"Eye in the Sea camera reveals mysterious life on the ocean floor", Palm Beach Post, KIM MILLER, March 8, 2009
