Daniel Lenihan

Daniel Lenihan is not just an extremist, but an explorer; not just a fun-seeker, but a preservationist; not just a risk-taker, but a nationally recognized scientist, respected in the ranks of park rangers. He has been at the center of many major underwater research projects in the U.S., from the USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor to the first expedition to resurvey the sunken ships of Bikini Atoll after they were declared radioactive from nuclear blasts. Lenihan has been diving as a park ranger and archaeologist for the National Park Service (NPS) since 1972. In 1976, he developed the only federal underwater archaeological tem in the U.S. and, in 1980, was appointed the first chief of the NPS Submerged Cultural Resources Unit (SCRU). Over the last 25 years, Lenihan and the SCRU team have been the subject of national media stories and many TV documentaries on CBS, ABC, BBC, CNN, PBS, The Discovery Channel, and National Geographic. He has written frequently for Natural History and American History, and coauthored with Gene Hackman the well-received sea novel Wake of the Perdido Star. A native New Yorker and former schoolteacher, he lives with his family in Santa Fe, New Mexico.