James Cameron Reflects on Exploration

On March 16, The Explorers Club, an organization headquartered in New York City and dedicated to preserving humanity’s instinct to explore, awarded filmmaker and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence James Cameron their highest honor—the Explorers Club Medal.

Honored for the cutting-edge submersible technology that took him to the bottom of the Mariana Trench—nearly seven miles (11 kilometers) below the surface of the sea—Cameron joins a list that includes astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, polar explorer Roald Amundsen, and primatologist Jane Goodall (former National Geographic explorer-in-residence).

Nearly a year after Cameron’s historic dive, he spoke with National Geographic News on what drives him to explore. Read the full interview here.