Historical Figure
Jacques Cousteau
1910–1997
French oceanographer and author (1910–1997)
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"Interview on Atlantis and Diving" — 1975
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Biography
Jacques-Yves Cousteau, was a French naval officer, oceanographer, filmmaker and author. He co-invented the first successful open-circuit self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (SCUBA), called the Aqua-Lung, which assisted him in producing some of the first underwater documentaries.
Timeline
The story of Jacques Cousteau, told in moments.
Co-invents the Aqua-Lung with engineer Emile Gagnan while France is under Nazi occupation. The device lets divers breathe underwater without a tether to the surface. He tests it in the Marne River. It works.
Releases The Silent World. The documentary wins the Palme d'Or at Cannes. Audiences see coral reefs and deep-sea creatures for the first time in color. The ocean stops being an abstraction.
His television series The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau reaches 30 million viewers. He captains the Calypso, a converted minesweeper, across every ocean. He wears a red wool cap. Children across three continents want to be marine biologists.
Dies in Paris at 87. His son Philippe had died in a seaplane crash in 1979 on the Tagus River. His first wife Simone spent 30 years aboard the Calypso and died of cancer two years before him. He'd married his mistress, with whom he'd had two children, six months after Simone's death.
In Their Own Words (13)
The glory of nature provides evidence that God exists
as quoted in The Human, the Orchid, and the Octopus: Exploring and Conserving Our Natural World (2010), Ch. 5. Bloomsbury Publishing., 2010
We must plant the sea and herd its animals … using the sea as farmers instead of hunters. That is what civilization is all about — farming replacing hunting.
Interview (17 July 1971); Cited in: Elizabeth Brubaker et al. (2008) Breath of Fresh Air, p. 180, 2008
Farming as we do it is hunting, and in the sea we act like barbarians.
Interview (17 July 1971): Cited in: Jane Goodall et al. (2005) Harvest for Hope: A Guide to Mindful Eating., 2005
We have to prepare for what life could become in 40 years. We need to outline what is possible and what is impossible with the non-renewable resources of the Earth. What role will technological improvement play? Taking all this into account, what kind of life can we produce in the best way for 10 billion people? That's a problem that needs to be solved.
Interview (March 1996)}, 1996
I said that the oceans were sick but they're not going to die. There is no death possible in the oceans — there will always be life — but they're getting sicker every year.
Interview (March 1996)}, 1996
Artifacts (15)
Naval Medical Research and Development News Vol VI Issue 7 (IA NMRDNews201407)
U.S. Navy. Naval Medical Research Center
Recherches sur les collections des Richelieu (IA recherchessurles00bonn)
Bonnaffé, Edmond, 1825-1903
Eagle River YCC (IA eagleriverycc1053tong)
Tongass National Forest (Alaska) Youth Conservation Corps (U.S.)
PRESENTATION OF THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY'S GOLD MEDAL TO JACQUES COUSTEAU
Robert Knudsen. White House Photographs. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston
Les peintres de l'Hotel de ville de Bordeaux - et des entrées royales depuis 1525 (IA lespeintresdelho00braq)
Braquehayé, Ch
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