French oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau (1910-1997), whose death turns 25 this Saturday (25), was a pioneer in exploring the seabed and became one of the most important environmentalists of our time.
Great inventor, it was Cousteau who created the first equipment for scuba diving, a system formed by an oxygen tank, valve and respirator. Named Aqua-lung, it was developed in 1943 in partnership with an engineer.
The Frenchman also transformed a British Royal Navy minesweeper into his famous research vessel, the Calypso, and developed a mini-submarine that is considered to be the first underwater vehicle designed for scientific exploration.
It also carries Jacques Cousteau’s signature to Conshelf I Station, the first underwater environment in which two divers were able to live and work for weeks (read more about these inventions below).
A filmmaker, Cousteau shared his discoveries with the general public in several films. He also noticed before many people the first signs of ocean degradation and dedicated himself to warning about the consequences of human action in the seas.
His trajectory has also been told in cinema, in works such as the documentary “Becoming Cousteau” (2021, USA) and the biopic “The Odyssey” (2016, France/Belgium), which features French actor Lambert Wilson in the role of Cousteau.
