Why do people search for atlantis

A pioneer in the development of deep-sea submersibles and remotely operated vehicle systems, he has taken part in more than deep-sea expeditions. In , he discovered the RMS Titanic , and has succeeded in tracking down numerous other significant shipwrecks, including the German battleship Bismarck , the lost fleet of Guadalcanal, the U.

He is known for his research on the ecology and evolution of fauna in deep-ocean hydrothermal, seamount, canyon and deep trench systems. He has conducted more than 60 scientific expeditions in the Arctic, Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans. Sunita L. Her research explores how the larvae of seafloor invertebrates such as anemones and sea stars disperse to isolated, island-like habitats, how larvae settle and colonize new sites, and how their communities change over time.

Kirstin also has ongoing projects in the Arctic and on coral reefs in Palau. Her work frequently takes her underwater using remotely operated vehicles and SCUBA and carries her to the far corners of the world. By Brett Freiburger February 3, Catching wind of Bigelow and Iselin's research cruise, the Minneapolis Sunday Tribune ran a page-one story in October, , excitedly noting the scientists' mission to look for the lost city while surveying large currents in the North Atlantic. We use cookies to analyze site usage and improve user experience.

By continuing on this site, you consent to their use. Read our Privacy Policy for more info and to amend settings. Close Privacy Overview This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. But one of his most famous stories—the cataclysmic destruction of the ancient civilization of Atlantis—is almost certainly false. So why is this story still repeated more than 2, years after Plato's death?

It has a lot of elements that people love to fantasize about. Plato told the story of Atlantis around B. The founders of Atlantis, he said, were half god and half human. They created a utopian civilization and became a great naval power.

Their home was made up of concentric islands separated by wide moats and linked by a canal that penetrated to the center. The lush islands contained gold, silver, and other precious metals and supported an abundance of rare, exotic wildlife. There was a great capital city on the central island. There are many theories about where Atlantis was—in the Mediterranean, off the coast of Spain, even under what is now Antarctica.

Plato said Atlantis existed about 9, years before his own time, and that its story had been passed down by poets, priests, and others. But Plato's writings about Atlantis are the only known records of its existence. Few, if any, scientists think Atlantis actually existed. Ocean explorer Robert Ballard, the National Geographic explorer-in-residence who discovered the wreck of the Titanic in , notes that "no Nobel laureates" have said that what Plato wrote about Atlantis is true.

Still, Ballard says, the legend of Atlantis is a "logical" one since cataclysmic floods and volcanic explosions have happened throughout history, including one event that had some similarities to the story of the destruction of Atlantis. About 3, years ago, a massive volcanic eruption devastated the island of Santorini in the Aegean Sea near Greece. In , the former U. Congressman published Atlantis: The Antediluvian World. Donnelly was inspired, says Adams, by a remarkable discovery in the early s.

In the years after Columbus brought news of the New World back to Europe, many claimed that America was the fabled Atlantis. But the search really gained steam in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Some searchers have pointed to a volcanic eruption that destroyed parts of the island of Santorini around BCE, wiping out Minoan settlements. They turned out to be experimental ponds created in and for a study involving zooplankton. Kenneth Feder, an emeritus professor of anthropology at Central Connecticut State University, has dealt with claims of Atlantis for much of his professional career. Unfortunately, none of the information was verifiable, and Cayce wrongly predicted that the continent would be discovered in Despite its clear origin in fiction, many people over the centuries have claimed that there must be some truth behind the myths, speculating about where Atlantis would be found.

Countless Atlantis "experts" have located the lost continent all around the world based on the same set of facts. Candidates — each accompanied by its own peculiar sets of evidence and arguments — include the Atlantic Ocean, Antarctica, Bolivia, Turkey, Germany, Malta and the Caribbean. Plato, however, is crystal clear about where Atlantis is: "For the ocean there was at that time navigable; for in front of the mouth which you Greeks call, as you say, 'the pillars of Heracles,' i.

Yet it has never been found in the Atlantic, or anywhere else. The only way to make a mystery out of Atlantis and to assume that it was once a real place is to ignore its obvious origins as a moral fable and to change the details of Plato's story, claiming that he took license with the truth, either out of error or intent to deceive. With the addition, omission, or misinterpretation of various details in Plato's work, nearly any proposed location can be made to "fit" his description.

Yet as writer L. Sprague de Camp noted in his book "Lost Continents," "You cannot change all the details of Plato's story and still claim to have Plato's story. That is like saying the legendary King Arthur is 'really' Cleopatra; all you have to do is to change Cleopatra's sex, nationality, period, temperament, moral character, and other details, and the resemblance becomes obvious.