Richard lutz, who is considered one of the world’s prime experts on deep-sea hydrothermal vents, was on one of alvin’s earliest deep-sea expeditions in 1979, and has been on numerous divers since. Lutz has served as principal investigator on a number of research projects regarding hydrothermal vents and has collaborated on more than 100 studies published in nature and various other scientific journals that describe molecules with potential anti-disease properties/