Oceanographer Sylvia Earle made a splash with her groundbreaking underwater explorations and dedication to protecting the ocean.

Her passion to discover what lies on the ocean floor is immeasurable, which is why#SeeHer Storyhas chosen to look back at Earle’s life in this week’s episode. The goal of#SeeHer Story, adigital video series fromKatie CouricMedia and PEOPLE, is to recognize female trailblazers throughout the past 100 years and celebrate how they’ve helped to shape history and culture.

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Marine ecologist Sylvia A. Earle is fragile in appearance, 5ft, 3in, 110 pounds and pretty, but she is one of five American women scientists who on July 6 will splashdown at Great Lameshur Bay, U.S.Virgin Isla.

Born in 1935, Earle felt drawn to the ocean from a young age.

Her love for marine life led her to study science and earn a Ph.D. from Duke University in 1966, where her advanced dissertation on algae caught the attention of many. Earle also learned to scuba dive — a skill she cherished throughout her entire life — during her college years.

In 1970, Earle broke gender barriers in science, leading the first all-female underwater research team, Tektite II, to study ocean life off the coast of St. John for two weeks.

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(Original Caption) Stepping Out. Great Lameshur Bay, St. John, Virgin Islands: Dr. Sylvia A. Farle, captain of the five-woman team of scientist-aquanauts conducting two weeks of tests 50 feet down in Caribbean waters here, moves out of hatch of Tektite 2 twin-cylinder habitat to start one of many experiments. The women were in their fourth day of underwater living.

St. John, Virgin Islands: Inside their underwater research station, where the first team of female aquanauts will live and work for twenty days, Peggy Lucas, habitat engineer, confers with team leader Dr. Sylvia Earle. Tunnel to the right connects with machinery room and underwater exit of the sea-floor habitat. NASA is using Tektite II program for biomedical research in the behavior of small groups of men working and living together.

She made history again in 1979 when diving 1,250 feet into the water without a tether — a record that remains unbroken today.

Still, Earle wanted to do more.

The explorer began making documentaries about all things ocean-related, including whale migration and sea turtles.

In 2009, Earle foundedMission Blue, an organization that aims to explore and protect the ocean as well as raise awareness about marine life.

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National Geographic Explorer-at-Large Sylvia Earle attends the National Geographic Awards on Wednesday, June 12, 2019, at Lisner Auditorium in Washington, D.C.

The Library of Congress dubbed Earle a Living Legend and Time Magazine honored the explorer as a Hero for the Planet.

“There’s no excuse anymore for continuing to behave towards the ocean as if it is just a place to take stuff out and put things in,” she shared in the clip.

To date, Earle, now 84, has led over 100 expeditions and logged more than 6,500 hours underwater.

She continues her passion today as a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, determined to use her voice to protect the ocean.

“Nothing else will matter if we fail to protect the ocean,” she has said. “Our fate and the ocean are one.”

source: people.com