Franck Goddio, the dedicated French underwater archaeologist, was born in 1947. After studying at the Ecole Nationale de la Statistique et de l'Administration Economique in Paris, from which he holds a degree in mathematics and statistics, he held key positions as adviser for national, as well as international organizations and various governments for over 15 years.

In Asia Franck Goddio conducted his first studies in the field of marine archaeology. He eventually decided to focus entirely his passion, and in 1985 founded the Institut Européen d'Archéologie Sous Marine (IEASM) in Paris. After thus becoming a full-time underwater archaeologist, Franck Goddio developed and improved a systematic approach to underwater archaeology. He began with the search for ancient shipwrecks and later also focused on remains of past civilizations, like sunken cities.

In the following years, Goddio found and/or excavated 14 historically important sunken ships, which had been resting on the bottom of the ocean for hundreds of years. Among the most well known are the Spanish galleon San Diego, the British East India Company ships Griffin and Royal Captain, as well as the Sérieuse and Napoleon Bonaparte's flagship Orient. The experience gathered in these projects was used for the discovery of the ancient submerged Royal Quarters of Alexandria in 1996, the lost cities and monuments of Heracleion, and the suburb of Canopus in the Bay of Aboukir in following years. Those had disappeared into the sea probably after a series of earthquakes.

Franck Goddio employs strict archaeological standards during the exploration and excavation phases and makes the excavated objects available to the public through museums and exhibitions. During every project he works in close co-operation with national and local authorities, archaeological experts and institutions of international reputation. In 2003, in co-operation with Oxford University, the Oxford Centre for Maritime Archaeology (OCMA) was founded. In 2009, Franck Goddio was appointed a Senior Visiting Lecturer within the School of Archaeology at Oxford University. Franck Goddio’s research projects have been financed by the Hilti Foundation since 1996.