Jeffrey Val Klump is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 limnologist. He was the first person to reach the deepest spot in Lake Superior

Lake Superior

Lake Superior is the largest of the five traditionally-demarcated Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded to the north by the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of Minnesota, and to the south by the U.S. states of Wisconsin and Michigan. It is the largest freshwater lake in the...

, a depth of 1333 feet (733 feet below sea level

Sea level

Mean sea level is a measure of the average height of the ocean's surface ; used as a standard in reckoning land elevation...

), which is also the lowest point in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, on July 30, 1985 while aboard the R/V Seward Johnson with the Johnson-SeaLink-II submersible

Submersible

A submersible is a small vehicle designed to operate underwater. The term submersible is often used to differentiate from other underwater vehicles known as submarines, in that a submarine is a fully autonomous craft, capable of renewing its own power and breathing air, whereas a submersible is...

. Klump was also the first person to reach to the deepest point in Lake Michigan

Lake Michigan

Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America and the only one located entirely within the United States. It is the second largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron...

 as part of the same expedition. He is currently a professor in the School of Freshwater Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

The University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee is Wisconsin's premier public urban university. It is a coed public research university located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the United States. It is also the largest university in the Milwaukee metropolitan area and a member of the University of Wisconsin System...

 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Wisconsin

Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...

and director of the Great Lakes WATER Institute.