Jacques Cousteau

His full name is Jacques Yves Cousteau and he was born on 11. June 1910 becamming a French naval officer, was explorer, ecologist, filmmaker,

scientist, photographer and researcher and many more for the diving community he is still like a father figure.

He studied the oceans and all forms of life in , at and under water. He was involved in the develop of the the aqua lung and member of the Academie Francaise. He was known as Jacques Cousteau and called Captain Cousteau. With age of 11, Cousteau built a crane model and at 13, he built a car operated with battary. In his early teens, he became fascinated with films. He saved his money and bought one of the first movie camera you could by for home movie purpose.

In high school, Cousteau became bored with school and began to cause trouble. As a result, his parents sent him to the boarding school. Cousteau excelled in this new environment and after his graduation, he entered the Naval Academy in Brest. In 1933 he joined the French Navy and served as a gunnery officer. During this he began his underwater explorations. He began working on a breathing machine for longer dives.

In 1937, Cousteau married Simone Melchoir. They had two sons, Jean-Michel and Phillipe. In 1943, he and the french engineer Emile Gagnan perfected the aqualung. Divers used the aqualung to located and remove mines after the world war.

Cousteau was named a capitaine de corvette of the French navy in 1948. Two years later he became president of the Oceanographic Campaigns de Frances. In the same year Cousteau purchased the ship Calypso to further his explorations. To finance his trips he increased public awareness of his undersea investigations. Cousteau produced many films and published a lot of books.

Because of his projects, Cousteau retired from the French navy. In 1957, he became director of the Oceanographic Museum in Monaco, founded the Underseas Research Group. He was also head of the Conshelf Saturation Dive Program. "Conshelf" was an experiment. Men lived and worked underwater for extended periods of time.

In 1968, Cousteau was offered to make a TV series. In the next eight years, the Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau introduced and showed to the public audience the world of sharks, whales, dolphins, sunken treasure, and reefs.

In 1974, Cousteau started the Cousteau Society to protect the ocean and the life inside the see. The non profit organisation has grown up to more than 350000 members. Cousteau was awarded the Medal of Freedom by President Ronald Reagan in 1985. In 1989 he was honored by France with the membership in the Academy Francaise.

• On January 11, 1996 the Calypso sank in Singapore harbor.
• Jacques Yves Cousteau died on June 25, 1997.

Our deepest respect and wishes should find him wherever he will be...

Best regards

The Dive-Center.org Team