Edith Widder

Widder was born in Arlington, Massachusetts{{cite web|url=http://www.icfw.org/widder-final_widder-final.qxd.pdf |title=The Art of Exploration |publisher=The Kennedy Center Imagination Celebration Fort Worth |access-date=November 19, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070810223051/http://www.icfw.org/widder-final_widder-final.qxd.pdf |archive-date=August 10, 2007 }} to Dr. David Widder, a Harvard University mathematics professor, and Dr. Vera Widder, a mathematician turned stay at home mother.{{cite book |last=Ross |first=Michael Elsohn |date=2014 |title=A World of Her Own: 24 Amazing Women Explorers and Adventurers |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EPHQAgAAQBAJ&q=A%20World%20of%20Her%20Own%3A%2024%20Amazing%20Women%20Explorers%20and%20Adventurers&pg=PP1 |location=Chicago, Illinois |publisher=Chicago Review Press |page=131 |isbn=9781613744413 |access-date=November 19, 2014}} She also had an older brother, David Charles Widder.{{cite web |url=http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/1997/12.11/FASMemorialMinu.html |title=FAS Memorial Minute: David V. Widder |date=December 11, 1997 |website=News.Harvard.edu |publisher=Harvard Gazette |access-date=November 19, 2014}}

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.[http://www.teamorca.org/pdf/Dr_Edith_Widder-cv.pdf Microsoft Word – Widder cv _3_.doc] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090902203905/http://www.teamorca.org/pdf/Dr_Edith_Widder-cv.pdf |date=2009-09-02 }}. (PDF). Retrieved on October 21, 2011.

Widder was a senior scientist and director of the Bioluminescence Department at the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution from 1989 to 2005.[http://www.at-sea.org/missions/deepscope/docs/bios.html#widder Researcher Bios] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090830110945/http://at-sea.org/missions/deepscope/docs/bios.html#widder |date=2009-08-30 }}. At-sea.org. Retrieved on October 21, 2011. 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.amazingwomenrock.com/role-models/edith-widder-deep-sea-explorer.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110903214834/http://www.amazingwomenrock.com/role-models/edith-widder-deep-sea-explorer.html|archive-date=2011-09-03|title=Edith Widder (Deep Sea Explorer)}} She has made over 250 dives in the JOHNSON SEA LINK submersibles.[http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/edu/oceanage/04widder/media/widder4.html NOAA Ocean Explorer: Dr. Edie Widder Video Profile]. Oceanexplorer.noaa.gov (August 1, 2006). Retrieved on October 21, 2011. Her research involving submersibles has been featured in BBC, PBS, Discovery Channel, and National Geographic television productions.[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/nature/edith-widder.html NOVA | Profile: Edith Widder]. Pbs.org (July 23, 2008). Retrieved on October 21, 2011.[http://avod.films.com/id/6345/Midwater_Mysteries.htm Access Video On Demand – Midwater Mysteries] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110812022423/http://avod.films.com/id/6345/Midwater_Mysteries.htm |date=2011-08-12 }}. Avod.films.com. Retrieved on October 21, 2011.[https://www.amazon.com/National-Geographics-Ocean-Drifters-VHS/dp/6304475438 National Geographic's Ocean Drifters [VHS]: Movies & TV]. Amazon.com. Retrieved on October 21, 2011.

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,{{Cite journal | last1 = Widder | first1 = E. | last2 = Case | first2 = J. | last3 = Bernstein | first3 = S. | last4 = MacIntyre | first4 = S. | last5 = Lowenstine | first5 = M. | last6 = Bowlby | first6 = M. | last7 = Cook | first7 = D. | doi = 10.1016/0967-0637(93)90148-V | title = A new large volume bioluminescence bathyphotometer with defined turbulence excitation | journal = Deep-Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers | volume = 40 | issue = 3 | pages = 607–627 | year = 1993 | bibcode = 1993DSRI...40..607W }} and a remotely operated camera system, known as Eye in the Sea (EITS), an unobtrusive deep-sea observatory."Eye in the Sea camera reveals mysterious life on the ocean floor", Palm Beach Post, KIM MILLER, March 8, 2009{{Cite journal | last1 = Schrope | first1 = M. | title = Marine biology: Lights in the deep | doi = 10.1038/450472a | journal = Nature | volume = 450 | issue = 7169 | pages = 472–474 | year = 2007 | pmid = 18033270| bibcode = 2007Natur.450..472S | s2cid = 967413 }}[https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/the-beauty-of-ugly-interview-dr-edith-widder/426/ The Beauty of Ugly – Interview: Dr. Edith Widder – Eye in the Sea | Nature]. PBS. Retrieved on October 21, 2011.

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[https://web.archive.org/web/20060928174323/http://www.macfound.org/site/c.lkLXJ8MQKrH/b.2070789/apps/nl/content2.asp?content_id=%7B8277DB01-A9EB-441A-99DC-82A77A5EAABC%7D¬oc=1 Edith Widder – MacArthur Foundation] . Macfound.org. Retrieved on October 21, 2011. and in 2010 she participated in the TED Mission Blue Voyage in the Galapagos.[http://www.ted.com/talks/edith_widder_glowing_life_in_an_underwater_world.html Edith Widder: Glowing life in an underwater world | Video on]. Ted.com. Retrieved on October 21, 2011.

In 2012, a team of scientists comprising Edith Widder, zoologist Tsunemi Kubodera and marine biologist Steve O'Shea successfully filmed a live giant squid (Architeuthis dux) in its natural habitat{{YouTube|rXkOPv3wVZw|TED Talk 2013 - Edith Widder: How we found the giant squid}} aboard Oceanx's MV Alucia.{{Cite web|url=http://www.oceanx.org/search-for-the-giant-squid/|title=Search For The Giant Squid|date=2018-05-12|website=OceanX|language=en-US|access-date=2019-03-29}}

In 2019, Edith Widder and Nathan J. Robinson filmed the first-ever footage of a live giant squid recorded in US waters.{{Cite news |last=Jarvis |first=Brooke |date=21 June 2019 |title=Giant Squid Reappears on Video, This Time in U.S. Waters |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/21/science/giant-squid-cephalopod-video.html |access-date=6 January 2020 |work=New York Times}} It was filmed 100 miles southeast of New Orleans, Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico.{{Cite web |last=Hines |first=Morgan |title=A stunning, elusive giant squid was captured on video in US waters for first time. We talked to the scientists who did it |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/06/26/giant-squid-caught-video-how-scientist-edie-widder-did/1556616001/ |access-date=2025-02-28 |website=USA TODAY |language=en-US}} This expedition was aboard the R/V Point Sur of the University of Southern Mississippi.

Widder is married to David Smith, a computer engineer.{{cite news|last=Michaels |first=Marty |date=October 26, 2006 |title=Turning Back the Tide |url=http://www.teamorca.org/pdf/10424-color-web.pdf |newspaper=The Chronicle of Philanthropy |volume=XIX |issue=2 |location=Washington, D.C. |access-date=November 19, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090902203850/http://www.teamorca.org/pdf/10424-color-web.pdf |archive-date=September 2, 2009 }}

• 2006 MacArthur Fellows Program
• 2015 Roy Chapman Andrews Society Distinguished Explorer Award{{cite web | title = 2015 Roy Chapman Andrews Society Distinguished Explorer Award |url=https://roychapmanandrewssociety.org/dea-recipient/edith-widder-2015/ |website=Roy Chapman Andrews Society}}
• 2018 Explorers Club Citation of Merit
• 2019 Eleanor Fletcher Lifetime Achievement Award{{cite web | url=https://marinelife.org/go_blue/lifetime-2019/ | title=2019 Go Blue Awards - Eleanor Fletcher }}
• 2020 Captain Don Walsh Award for Ocean Exploration established by the Marine Technology Society and the Society of Underwater Technology

Selected publications include:

• {{Cite journal|last1=Widder|first1=Edith A.|last2=Latz|first2=Michael I.|last3=Case|first3=James F.|date=1983|title=Marine bioluminescence spectra measured with an optical multichannel detection system|journal=The Biological Bulletin|volume=165|issue=3|pages=791–810|doi=10.2307/1541479|jstor=1541479|pmid=29324013|issn=0006-3185|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/part/33981 }}
• {{Cite journal | last1 = Widder | first1 = E. A. | last2 = Latz | first2 = M. I. | last3 = Herring | first3 = P. J. |author3-link=Peter Herring | last4 = Case | first4 = J. F. | title = Far Red Bioluminescence from Two Deep-Sea Fishes | doi = 10.1126/science.225.4661.512 | journal = Science | volume = 225 | issue = 4661 | pages = 512–514 | year = 1984 | pmid = 17750854| bibcode = 1984Sci...225..512W | s2cid = 31510972 }}
• {{Cite journal | last1 = Widder | first1 = E. A. | last2 = Johnsen | first2 = S. | last3 = Bernstein | first3 = S. A. | last4 = Case | first4 = J. F. | last5 = Neilson | first5 = D. J. | title = Thin layers of bioluminescent copepods found at density discontinuities in the water column | doi = 10.1007/s002270050559 | journal = Marine Biology | volume = 134 | issue = 3 | pages = 429–437 | year = 1999 | bibcode = 1999MarBi.134..429W | s2cid = 18255901 }}
• 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
• {{Cite journal | last1 = Widder | first1 = E. A. | title = Bioluminescence in the Ocean: Origins of Biological, Chemical, and Ecological Diversity | doi = 10.1126/science.1174269 | journal = Science | volume = 328 | issue = 5979 | pages = 704–708 | year = 2010 | pmid = 20448176| bibcode = 2010Sci...328..704W | s2cid = 2375135 }}
• Robinson, N.; Johnsen, S.; Brooks, A.; Frey, L.; Judkins, H.; Vecchione, M.; Widder, E. (2021). [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0967063721000777?via%3Dihub "Studying the swift, smart, and shy: Unobtrusive camera-platforms for observing large deep-sea squid."]{{Cite journal|title=Studying the swift, smart, and shy: Unobtrusive camera-platforms for observing large deep-sea squid|journal=Deep Sea Research Part 1: Oceanographic Research Papers|volume=172|bibcode=2021DSRI..17203538R |last1=Robinson |first1=Nathan J. |last2=Johnsen |first2=Sönke |last3=Brooks |first3=Annabelle |last4=Frey |first4=Lee |last5=Judkins |first5=Heather |last6=Vecchione |first6=Michael |last7=Widder |first7=Edith |year=2021 |page=103538 |doi=10.1016/j.dsr.2021.103538 |s2cid=234817555 |doi-access=free }}

• The Bioluminescence Coloring Book
• Below the Edge of Darkness: A Memoir of Exploring Light and Life in the Deep Sea

• {{cite book|last=Collard|first=Sneed B.|title=In the Deep Sea|year=2006|publisher=Marshall Cavendish Benchmark|location=New York|isbn=978-0-7614-1952-5|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/indeepsea00coll}}
• Season 5 – Episode 002 – [https://www.amazon.com/Season-Episode-oceanographer-biologist-Co-founder/dp/B08KMM36XM Edith Widder - oceanographer, marine biologist, and co-founder of Orca] (podcast).
• Wilson, Abigail. (2020). Edith Widder 1951-today. [https://womensactivism.nyc/stories/5282 WomensActivism.NYC]
• Futureproof with Jonathan McCrea (2020). [https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/futureproof-with/bioluminescence-J_j1bPn-2km/ Bioluminescence]. (podcast).
• Orca podcast (2019). [https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/orca-podcast/episode-1-a-qa-with-orca-ynfKF64Q8tp/ Episode 1: A Q&A with ORCA founder, Senior Scientist, and CEO, Dr. Edie Widder] (podcast).
• Ted Radio hour (2018). [https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/ted-radio-hour/in-search-of-093kwMfXeAx/ In Search of] (podcast).
• Yale 360 Interview 2021. [https://e360.yale.edu/features/a-scientist-reveals-the-bioluminescent-magic-of-the-deep-sea-world A Scientist Reveals the Bioluminescent Magic of the Deep-Sea World]

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• [https://web.archive.org/web/20080728120542/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/0305/04.html "Profile: Edith Widder", Science Now]
• [http://www.gulfofmaine.org/times/winterspring2007/qanda.html "Q&A: Edith Widder, MacArthur Fellow"], Gulf of Maine Times, Lisa Capone, 2007
• Erik Olsen, [https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/20/science/a-pollution-fight-powered-by-bioluminescent-sea-creatures.html "Illuminating the Perils of Pollution, Nature's Way"], New York Times, December 19, 2011.

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Category:1951 births

Category:Living people

Category:American marine biologists

Category:American oceanographers

Category:Tufts University School of Arts and Sciences alumni

Category:University of California, Santa Barbara alumni

Category:MacArthur Fellows