In 2009, Google’s Eric Schmidt bought a ship; by 2022, it mapped 1.3m sq km of seafloor
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Wendy Schmidt converted a fisheries vessel into the philanthropic research ship Falkor, which mapped over 1.3 million square kilometers of ocean floor and hosted 1,000+ scientists by 2022. The Schmidts later donated the vessel to Italy's National Research Council (CNR), where it was renamed Gaia Blu and continues ocean exploration.
Why it matters
This initiative demonstrates how private philanthropy can significantly advance global scientific research and ocean exploration, contributing vital data about the marine environment and fostering international scientific collaboration.
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Wendy Schmidt transformed a former fisheries protection vessel into a philanthropic ocean research platform that, by 2022, had hosted more than 1,000 scientists and mapped over 1.3 million square kilometres of the ocean floor. According to Schmidt Ocean Institute, the vessel, named Falkor, was originally built in 1981 as a fishery protection ship. It was acquired by the Schmidts in 2009 when they founded the Schmidt Ocean Institute, an organisation focused on advancing oceanographic research and exploration.
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