Tireless Jacques-Yves Cousteau

After graduating from the naval school in Brest in 1930, he entered the navy as a midshipman. Dreamed of becoming a pilot, but because of injuries sustained in a car accident in 1936, he had to leave the naval flight school. Moving to Toulon, has become a daily swim in the Mediterranean Sea to restore health, then he became interested in diving mask. Followed by experiments with underwater gear, and in 1943 Cousteau and engineer Emile Gagnan invented the autonomous diving suit. With it, you can move freely under water and under water down to a depth of 90 m.

Cousteau invented waterproof camera and lighting, as well as the first underwater television system. In 1950 he converted the American minesweeper, named "Calypso", and a year later began to organize underwater expeditions. Among the first achievements of the team "Calypso" are extensive underwater archaeological research and photographing the seabed at a depth of 7250 m.

Cousteau book The Silent World (1953), coauthored with Frederick Dumas, became a bestseller. Her film version in 1956 was awarded an Oscar and Palme d'Or French. Official recognition of the achievements Cousteau came with his statement as Director Oceanographic Museum in Monaco in 1957. The resounding success of the book Cousteau helped to implement new projects: to create the first small autonomous submersible peace and conduct a series of experiments to dive with underwater breathing apparatus (in this case people for a long time remained underwater stations on the seabed). A documentary about these stations called World Without Sun won an Oscar in 1965. Many television (including the United States, the USSR and Russia) over the years include Cousteau documentaries in their programs.

Concerned about the destruction of marine ecosystems, Cousteau in 1973 founded the non-profit Cousteau Society for the Protection of the Marine Environment. At the same time continue the expedition to "Calypso", and investigated various regions such as Antarctica and the Amazon River. In 1996, "Calypso" collided with a barge in the port of Singapore, was damaged and sank.