1910 - 1997
Overview:
Jacques Cousteau shared his interest in undersea life and educated a generation of people around the world. His explorations into marine life spurred on a great number of people to follow in his footsteps, and bought the world of the ocean right to our front doors.
Country:
France
Type
of hero: Environmental, Cultural and Development Rights
Attributes:
Scientist, Marine Biologist
Biography:
Jacques Yves Cousteau was born in Saint-Andre-de-Dubzac in France in 1910. His parents were Daniel and Elizabeth Cousteau who supported Jaques early interest in all things watery. In his teens he also became heavily fascinated in machines and built a small crane and a battery powered car. This continued on into the practical side of filmmaking and he soon bought himself a home movie camera.
Cousteau began high school but became very bored and unsettled very quickly. He began to cause trouble for himself and his parents so they moved him to a strict boarding school. Thankfully, in this new environment, his mind thrived. After graduation, he joined the Naval Academy in Brest.
In 1933 he joined the French Navy and this is where his explorations into underwater diving equipment. Cousteau served as a spy in World War 2 and received numerous medals for his actions. During this time also, he married Simone Melchoir (1937) and they had two children, Jean-Michel and Phillip. Even during this very hectic time in his life, he continued in his underwater inventions and in 1943 had perfected the aqualung, which is still used by divers today. This invention was very useful to the Navy as divers where required to dive deep under water to detach mines from ships and structures.
In 1948 Jacques was made a captain in the French Navy and two years later became the president of the French Oceanographic Campaign. In the same year he bought the ship “Calypso” to help aid him in his underwater explorations and funded his trips using money made from the many books and films he released in his “spare” time.
Because of his busy schedule he retired from the French Army in 1957 and continued to work steadily on his movies and writing. His films included “The Silent World” (1956), “World Without Sun” (1966), both of which won Academy Awards for Best Documentary. He also wrote the books “The Living Sea” (1963), “Dolphins” (1975) and Jacques Cousteau: The Ocean World” (1985).
Jacques Cousteau continued on to become the director of the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco and also founded the Underseas Research Group at Toulon. He also headed the Conself Saturation Dive Program, which studied the effects on humans made to live and work underwater for extended periods of time.
In 1968 Cousteau was asked to make the television series “The Underwater World of Jacques Cousteau” which educated the international community about all things under the sea, from sharks to underwater treasures to coral reefs.
In 1974 he headed the Cousteau Society, which raised money to protect sea life. Its membership has now risen to 300,000 members and still continues to grow internationally. He was presented in 1985 with the Medal of Freedom by President Reagan and in 1989 was awarded membership of the French Academy.
In his last years in life, he fought a tough legal battle with his son Jean-Michel about the use of the Cousteau name. Jacques died on June 25th, 1997. His work continues to influence generation after generation of marine students and his advancement in the technology for diving has aided much of their ongoing research into the underwater world.
Citations
& References:
Links:
http://www.incwell.com/Biographies/Cousteau.html
http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9706/25/cousteau.obit/
http://www.eggscape.com/cousteau.html
http://www.cousteau.org/
http://www.cousteausociety.org/aboutjyc.html
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