You have certainly heard that name again, but do you know why Jacques-Yves Cousteau is famous? Jacques-Yves Cousteau was a naval officer, marine explorer, inventor, filmmaker and environmental activist.
- He was born on June, 11 1910 in Saint-André-de-Cubzac, France.
- Cousteau was known for his extensive undersea investigations.
- He graduated from France’s naval academy in 1933.
- In 1943, Cousteau co-invented the Aqua-Lung, a Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus (commonly known as “scuba”). He helped to invent many other tools useful to oceanographers and divers.
- In 1946, he started the French Navy’s underwater research group.
- In 1951, he began going on yearly trips to explore the ocean on the Calypso ship.
- Cousteau described his underwater world research in a series of books. The first one was The Silent World: A Story of Undersea Discovery and Adventure, published in 1953.
- Cousteau also directed films, most notably the documentary adaptation of the book, The Silent World.
- In October 1960, a large amount of radioactive waste was going to be discarded in the Mediterranean Sea by Commissariat à l’énergie atomique (CEA) in France. He organized a publicity campaign which gained wide popular support. The train carrying the waste was stopped by women and children sitting on the railway, and was sent back to its origin.
- Cousteau produced and starred in many television programs, including the American series The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau (1968–76).
- Cousteau’s legacy includes more than 120 television documentaries, more than 50 books, and an environmental protection foundation with 300,000 members.
- Jacques-Yves Cousteau died on June 25, 1997, at the age of 87, in Paris, France.
Sources: Wikipedia.org, Britannica.com, Biography.com, ioi.research.um.edu.mt