22 Facts About Hans Hass

Hans Hass was an Austrian biologist and underwater diving pioneer.

Hans Hass was known mainly for being among the first scientists to popularise coral reefs, stingrays, octopuses and sharks.

Hans Hass pioneered the making of documentaries filmed underwater and led the development of a type of rebreather.

Hans Hass is known for his energon theory and his commitment to protecting the environment.

Hass was born in Vienna; his father was an attorney and Hass initially pursued law.

However, Hans Hass had a formative encounter with the American diver Guy Gilpatric while on a Riviera holiday in 1938 which included underwater hunting and photography.

Hans Hass's thesis was the first scientific research project that used an autonomous rebreather diving equipment.

Hans Hass published "Diving to Adventure," his first book of underwater photographs, in 1939 and some credit him with developing one of the first underwater cameras.

Hans Hass completed his first underwater film called Pirsch unter Wasser in 1940.

Hans Hass moved from Vienna to Berlin in 1941, where he founded the tax privileged society Expedition fur biologische Meereskunde.

Hans Hass was excused from serving in the German military during the Second World War because of poor circulation in his feet caused by Raynaud's disease.

Therefore, Hans Hass rented a ship in Piraeus and sailed for several months in the Aegean Sea and the Sea of Crete in 1942.

Hans Hass had read the book Die Raubfischer in Hellas written in 1939 by Werner Helwig.

Hans Hass found this group near Skiathos and was able to film their dynamite fishing under water.

In spring and summer of 1943, Hans Hass stayed for several months at the Stazione Zoologica in Naples and Capri to study and collect Bryozoa, aquatic invertebrate animals, for his doctoral thesis in zoology.

Until the end of the war Hans Hass lived and worked in the film studios of Universum Film AG in Babelsberg near Berlin to cut and finish his film about the expedition in the Aegean Sea.

Hans Hass produced 105 commercial films, many featuring himself and his second wife, who was an expert diver.

From his behavioural research, Hans Hass formed his energon hypothesis, the focus of his work in later years.

Hans Hass consolidated marine biology, behaviour research and management theories under one umbrella.

Hans Hass believed that his energon theory could not be disproved.

Hans Hass never acknowledged others or corrected the impression that he wasn't the first in diving or underwater photography.

Hans Hass was 94 and was survived by his wife and daughter Meta.