has spent more than five decades traveling the world conducting research in, on, and around the oceans. In 1961, Walsh was chosen as one of 50 outstanding Americans of meritorious performance in the fields of endeavor, to be honored as a guest of honor to the first annual Banquet of the Golden Plate in Monterey, California. Honor was awarded by vote of the National Panel of Distinguished Americans of the Academy of Achievement. On April 14, 2010, The National Geographic Society bestowed its greatest honor, the Hubbard Medal, on Walsh in a ceremony in Washington, D.C. at the National Geographic headquarters. The U.S. Navy awarded Walsh its Distinguished Public Service Award. On September 22, 2020, The Marine Technology Society and The Society for Underwater Technology announced that Edith Widder was the inaugural recipient of their new joint MTS/SUT Captain Don Walsh Award for Ocean Exploration. Today Walsh lives with his wife, Joan, near Coquille, Oregon. He has managed a marine consulting business since 1976, and conducted about five deep-sea expeditions per year. He remains active with the National Academy of Sciences and the Ocean Elders, and is on the faculty of Oregon State University. It was reported in 2010 that Walsh visited the deep-sea submersible Jiaolong and its makers at the China Ship Scientific Research Center. The craft had "planted a Chinese flag on the bottom of the South China Sea during a two-mile-deep dive in June" as the Chinese program—which Walsh characterized as "very deliberate"—proceeded toward its ambitious goal of diving to 7,000 meters, or 4.35 miles, in 2012. Walsh joined the team that oversaw the dive of the Deepsea Challenger mission, during which James Cameron dove solo to the bottom of the Challenger Deep, on March 26, 2012. Walsh was the inspiration for Chris Wright's 2015 book No More Worlds to Conquer, and his interview constitutes the opening chapter. The book, about moving on from the defining moment in one's life, was inspired by Walsh's answer to Wright's question: what came next after the Trieste dive? Walsh responded: "Well, a lot of people think I died." Walsh was on board to congratulate Victor Vescovo when he completed his own record-breaking series of dives in the Challenger Deep in 2019. In June 2020, Walsh's son Kelly dove to the bottom of the Challenger Deep with Vescovo, becoming the twelfth person to reach the deepest point in the ocean. See