39 Facts About Jacques Cousteau

Jacques Cousteau co-invented the first successful Aqua-Lung, open-circuit SCUBA.

Jacques Cousteau was born on 11 June 1910, in Saint-Andre-de-Cubzac, Gironde, France, to Daniel and Elisabeth Jacques Cousteau.

Jacques Cousteau completed his preparatory studies at the College Stanislas in Paris.

In Toulon, where he was serving on the Condorcet, Jacques Cousteau carried out his first underwater experiments, thanks to his friend Philippe Tailliez who in 1936 lent him some Fernez underwater goggles, predecessors of modern swimming goggles.

Jacques Cousteau belonged to the information service of the French Navy, and was sent on missions to Shanghai and Japan and in the USSR.

Jacques Cousteau's sons took part in the adventures of the Calypso.

Jacques Cousteau was not satisfied with the length of time he could spend underwater with the Le Prieur apparatus so he improved it to extend underwater duration by adding a demand regulator, invented in 1942 by Emile Gagnan.

In 1943 Jacques Cousteau tried out the first prototype Aqua-Lung which finally made extended underwater exploration possible.

In 1948, between missions of mine clearance, underwater exploration and technological and physiological tests, Jacques Cousteau undertook a first campaign in the Mediterranean on board the sloop Elie Monnier, with Philippe Tailliez, Frederic Dumas, Jean Alinat and the scenario writer Marcel Ichac.

Jacques Cousteau refitted the Calypso as a mobile laboratory for field research and as his principal vessel for diving and filming.

Jacques Cousteau carried out underwater archaeological excavations in the Mediterranean, in particular at Grand-Congloue.

Jacques Cousteau reported that his research vessel, the Elie Monier, was heading to the Straits of Gibraltar and noticed a group of porpoises following them.

Jacques Cousteau changed course a few degrees off the optimal course to the center of the strait, and the porpoises followed for a few minutes, then diverged toward mid-channel again.

Jacques Cousteau concluded that the cetaceans had something like sonar, which was a relatively new feature on submarines.

In 1954, Jacques Cousteau conducted a survey of Abu Dhabi waters on behalf of British Petroleum.

Jacques Cousteau won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1956 for The Silent World co-produced with Malle.

In 1957, Jacques Cousteau took over as leader of the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco.

Jacques Cousteau directed Precontinent, about the experiments of diving in saturation, and was admitted to the United States National Academy of Sciences.

Jacques Cousteau was involved in the creation of Confederation Mondiale des Activites Subaquatiques and served as its inaugural president from 1959 to 1973.

Jacques Cousteau took part in inventing the "SP-350 Denise Diving Saucer" in 1959 which was an invention best for exploring the ocean floor, as it allowed one to explore on solid ground.

Romanovsky and other French scientists, including Louis Fage and Jacques Cousteau, repudiated the claim, saying that Romanovsky had in mind a much smaller amount.

Jacques Cousteau organized a publicity campaign which in less than two weeks gained wide popular support.

In December 1972, two years after the volcano's last eruption, The Jacques Cousteau Society was filming Voyage au bout du monde on Deception Island, Antarctica, when Michel Laval, Calypsos second in command, was struck and killed by a rotor of the helicopter that was ferrying between Calypso and the island.

Jacques Cousteau found the wreck of the French 17th-century ship-of-the-line La Therese in coastal waters of Crete.

Jacques Cousteau called his eldest son, the architect Jean-Michel, to his side.

In 1980, Jacques Cousteau traveled to Canada to make two films on the Saint Lawrence River and the Great Lakes, Cries from the Deep and St Lawrence: Stairway to the Sea.

From 1986 to 1992, Jacques Cousteau released Rediscovery of the World.

Jacques Cousteau composed the music for Cousteau's documentary "Palawan, the last refuge".

On 2 December 1990, his wife, Simone Jacques Cousteau died of cancer.

In June 1991, in Paris, Jacques-Yves Cousteau remarried, to Francine Triplet, with whom he had two children, Diane and Pierre-Yves.

In November 1991, Jacques Cousteau gave an interview to the UNESCO Courier, in which he stated that he was in favour of human population control and population decrease.

Jacques Cousteau said that just because fish are cold-blooded does not mean they do not feel pain, and that recreational fishermen only say so to reassure their conscience.

Jacques-Yves Cousteau died of a heart attack on 25 June 1997 in Paris, two weeks after his 87th birthday.

Jacques Cousteau was buried in the family vault at Saint-Andre-de-Cubzac, his birthplace.

Jacques Cousteau's legacy includes more than 120 television documentaries, more than 50 books, and an environmental protection foundation with 300,000 members.

Jacques Cousteau was, in reality, a sophisticated showman, teacher, and lover of nature.

Jacques Cousteau's work permitted many people to explore the resources of the oceans.

Jacques Cousteau's work created a new kind of scientific communication, criticized at the time by some academics.

Fabien Cousteau, the grandson of Jacques Cousteau, is in the process of constructing a community of ocean flooring analysis stations, called Proteus, off Curacao at a depth of about 20 m in a marine-protected area.