19 Facts About Andreas Rechnitzer

Andreas Buchwald Rechnitzer was an American oceanographer.

Andreas Rechnitzer helped develop the first SCUBA diving training program for ocean scientists, which included such innovations as ditch-and-don, buddy breathing, and the buddy system.

Andreas Rechnitzer was a member of the US Navy Office of Naval Research team that negotiated the purchase of the bathyscape Trieste, and was the scientist in charge of Project Nekton in 1960, during which the Trieste entered the Challenger Deep, the deepest surveyed point in the world's oceans.

Andreas Rechnitzer joined the scientific staff of the Chief of Naval Operations, where he was the Oceanographer of the Navy from 1970 to 1984, and was the Senior Scientist at Science Applications International Corporation from 1985 to 1998.

Andreas Buchwald Rechnitzer was born in on Escondido, California, on November 30,1924.

Andreas Rechnitzer returned to college after the war and earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Michigan State University in 1947 and a Master of Science from the University of California in Los Angeles in 1951.

Andreas Rechnitzer wrote his 1955 Doctor of Philosophy thesis on A serological approach to the systematics of the viviparous sea-perches, family Embiotocidae under the supervision of Carl Hubbs at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Andreas Rechnitzer was the scientist in charge of Project Nekton in 1960, during which the Triete entered the Challenger Deep, the deepest surveyed point in the world's oceans, and dived to 35,800 feet.

Andreas Rechnitzer then went to Rockwell International, where he was in charge of the development of the Beaver IV submersible.

Andreas Rechnitzer left Rockwell in 1970, and became the Science and Technology Advisor in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations.

Andreas Rechnitzer headed the Navy's Deep Submergence Systems Division from 1970 to 1973, and then served as Oceanographer of the Navy from 1974 to 1978.

Andreas Rechnitzer became an adjunct professor at the Naval Postgraduate School in 1977.

Andreas Rechnitzer was involved in the discovery of the wreck of the British Royal Mail Steamship Tweed, which sank on Scorpion Reef in 1847, and the English merchantman Holiday that sank there in 1823.

Awards Andreas Rechnitzer received included the Academy of Underwater Arts and Sciences' NOGI Award for sciences in 1968, for distinguished Service in 1989, and for sports and education in 1999 and 2007.

Andreas Rechnitzer is the only person to have won the NOGI award three times.

Andreas Rechnitzer was made an honorary citizen of the city of San Diego and an honorary life member of the National Geographic Society.

Andreas Rechnitzer was the Diego Chamber of Commerce's Outstanding Man of the Year in 1960 and 1961.

Andreas Rechnitzer died at Grossmont Hospital in La Mesa, California, on August 22,2005.

Andreas Rechnitzer was survived by his wife Alice, daughter Andrea, and sons, David, Martin and Michael.