Rachel Haymon is a marine geologist known for her work linking geological and biological processes occurring at deep-sea hydrothermal vents.
As a child growing up in Baton Rouge Louisiana, Marie Curie was the only woman scientist Haymon knew.
In 1982, she earned her Ph.D. from the University of California, San Diego working on hydrothermal deposits at 21°N on the East Pacific Rise.
[17] Repeated visits to the area revealed the tube worms were gone within eleven months after the eruption, replaced by small fish, octopus, and crabs.
[16][18] Later work by Haymon on the East Pacific Rise revealed hydrothermal venting along the ridge-flank sites, away from the black smokers.