Bathysphere. Historical image of the bathysphere being deployed of the US coast. This device was designed by the American engineer Otis Barton to be used by the naturalist William Beebe for studying undersea wildlife. It was an un-powered deep-sea submersible that was lowered into the ocean on a cable and used to conduct a series of dives off the coast of Bermuda from 1930 to 1934. Beebe and Barton conducted dives in the Bathysphere together, marking the first time that a marine biologist observed deep-sea animals in their native environment. They also set several consecutive world records for the deepest dive ever performed by a human. Image from 'Wonders of Peace and War', by Geza Supka, Hungary, 1939.