Together in life and in science

Science and a full life go hand-in-hand for Rudolf Scheltema and Amélie Scheltema, researchers in the WHOI Biology Department who together have devoted over a century to understanding the invertebrate animals that live on the bottom of the ocean. Their specialties differ: Rudi studies “long-distance,” passively drifting larvae of bottom-living animals and their significance for the distribution of the adult bottom-dwellers, even across ocean basins. Ami studies fossil- and living deep sea mollusks called aplacophorans. Their work has taken them to far-flung and often separate parts of the world. But they share a deep calling for marine biology, a passionate interest in justice and people around the world, and a 53-year marriage. As Rudi has said, “Science is slow, so live long.”
(Photo by Tom Kleindinst, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)