Victor Vescovo on the Science of Exploration

ScIC "Science is Cool" Unplugged

Quite possibly the "Most Interesting Man in the World". Victor Vescovo joins us on the show to tell us all about his explorations and what he thinks about the future of our civilization.

Victor has done many things in life, but during this episode we hear about his recent scientific explorations of the deepest parts of our oceans. He tells us about the creation of the first of its kind, reusable submersible that united build teams from around the world. Victor and his team used this new technology to dive into the five deepest trenches in the ocean.

Victor also talks with Dave about what the deep sea can teach us about the planet and how we can use that research to progress our society into the future. Can you guess which classic novel was Victor's inspiration?

Dave and Victor get into their favorite science fiction dystopian films and how close we have come to them becoming a reality.

We also learn why Victor does what he does, and he shares his childhood and the teachers in his life that made a real impact on him!

You can connect with Victor on his Twitter: https://twitter.com/VictorVescovo

ABOUT VICTOR

Victor is a 20-year veteran private equity and venture capital investor with particular expertise in the aerospace, defense, and electronics industries.

He received his MBA from Harvard Business School where he was named a Baker Scholar, received a Master’s Degree from MIT and earned his undergraduate degree from Stanford University. He also served 20 years in the U.S. Navy Reserve as an intelligence officer, retiring as a Commander.

Victor was the 12th American to complete the “Explorer’s Grand Slam” which requires climbing the highest peak on all seven of the world’s continents including Mt. Everest and skiing 100 kilometers to the North and South Poles. In 2020, he piloted the first repeated dives to Challenger Deep -- now fifteen times, and in August 2019 became the first person to visit “The Five Deeps,” the deepest point in each of the world’s oceans. Victor has personally been to the bottom of seventeen deep ocean trenches, while no other person has ever been to the bottom of more than two.

He has also made three dives to the Titanic including the only solo dive ever made there. In the last two years, Victor located and dove on the deepest and second-deepest wrecks in history at the sites of the USS Johnston and USS Samuel B. Roberts.

Victor is also a commercially rated multi-engine jet and helicopter pilot, a certified submersible test pilot, and recently flew into space on Blue Origin’s New Shephard-21 mission, thus becoming the first person in history to climb Mount Everest, explore the very bottom of the ocean, and visit space.