Eugenie Clark | Shark expert, 92

Eugenie Clark, 92, a world authority on sharks who defied society's expectations about women's roles in science and the much-feared underwater creatures she studied, died last Wednesday at her home in Sarasota, Fla.

An ichthyologist and oceanographer, she divided much of her career between the University of Maryland and the Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota. The cause of death was nonsmoking lung cancer, said her son Nikolas Konstantinou.

An unabashed adventurer and prolific researcher, she traveled the globe to study reef fish, sharks, and mollusks. She made 71 dives in submersibles, a practice that is still done by a relatively small number of explorers, plunging at one point to 12,000 feet. - Washington Post