John Piña Craven (October 30, 1924 – February 12, 2015) was an American scientist who was known for his involvement with Bayesian search theory and the recovery of lost objects at sea. He was Chief Scientist of the Special Projects Office of the United States Navy.

Biography

John Piña Craven was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1924. He held a Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University, a Master of Science degree from the California Institute of Technology, a Ph.D. from the University of Iowa, and a Juris Doctor degree from the National Law Center of the George Washington University.

He met his wife, Dorothy Drakesmith, while attending the University of Iowa.

As chief scientist of the Special Projects Office, Craven was in charge of the Deep Submergence Systems Project, which included the SEALAB program. In February 1969, when aquanaut Berry L. Cannon died while attempting to repair a leak in SEALAB III, Craven headed an advisory group that determined the best method of salvaging the SEALAB habitat.

Craven also served on the U.S. government's Weather Modification Commission during the Carter Administration. During that time, a hypothetical method was developed to significantly reduce the impact of tropical cyclones. In 1976, after losing in his campaign to become a member of the United States House of Representatives, Craven was appointed as the Director of the Law of the Sea Institute. In 2001, he was the president of the Common Heritage Corporation.

Craven died in Honolulu on February 12, 2015, at the age of 90, from Parkinson's disease.

Notes

References

  • Sherry Sontag, Blind Man's Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage (New York: Public Affairs, 1998), . Craven is mentioned frequently in this nonfiction book on American submarine-based espionage.
  • Roger C. Dunham, Spy Sub - Top Secret Mission To The Bottom Of The Pacific (New York: Penguin Books, 1996),
  • Roy Varner and Wayne Collier, "A Matter of Risk: The Incredible Inside Story of the CIA's Hughes Glomar Explorer Mission to Raise a Russian Submarine", 1978

Further reading

  • All hands down by Kenneth Sewell and Jerome Preisler, Pocket Star, 2009.
  • Wired: The Mad Genius from the Bottom of the Sea
  • Power and fresh water from the deep Ocean
  • Ocean engineer left mark on isle research, education