The sea, the great unifier, is man’s only hope. Now, as never before, the old phrase has a literal meaning: we are all in the same boat.
Jacques Cousteau-Yves
Jacques Cousteau-Yves was a naval officer, adventurer, conservationist, filmmaker, innovator, scientist, photographer, author, and researcher who specialized in the sea and all aspects of aquatic life. He was a founder of the Académie Française and co-invented the Aqua-Lung. He also promoted aquatic protection.
Jacques Cousteau-Yves was commissioned a second lieutenant after graduating from France’s naval academy in 1933. However, a nearly fatal car crash in which both of his arms were fractured ruining his aspirations to become a navy pilot. Cousteau, who had no formal scientific training, was attracted to undersea discovery by his passion for both the ocean and deep sea diving.
Why is Jacques Cousteau a legend?
Cousteau’s underwater films and documentaries introduced audiences to a whole new world.
The Oscar-winning films “The Silent World”, “The Golden Fish”, and “World Without Sun” are among Jacques Cousteau’s groundbreaking underwater documentaries. Their message was ‘Come with me and look at this wonderful thing and see how it acts and behaves. It was a thorough and comprehensive guide to the undersea environment for the general public.
Jacques Cousteau invented scuba gear.
For most of the late 20th century, the French marine adventurer, inventor, photographer, and conservationist traveled the globe with his famous red beanie and renowned ship Calypso, teaching millions about the Earth’s oceans and their inhabitants—and encouraging their safety.
Little of it would have been feasible without scuba gear, which Cousteau pioneered when he co-created the Aqua-Lung, a twin-hose underwater breathing system, with engineer Emile Gagnan during World War II.
Cousteau and his crew were able to explore and film parts of the ocean depths that had never been seen before thanks to the Aqua-Lung.
Jacques Cousteau was able to suppress radioactive waste from being dumped in the ocean.
In 1960, Jacques Cousteau orchestrated a national outcry against a French government attempt to dump radioactive waste into the Mediterranean Sea, and he brought his war to the president of the republic. In France, Jacques Cousteau clashed with General de Gualle over the alleged disposal, and he maintained his opposition to nuclear power. He agreed that it was a renewable power source with a lot of potential, but he believed that we shouldn’t try it as long as we’re dealing with pollution that we don’t know how to tackle. After a sit-in on the tracks by women and girls, the train transporting the waste eventually turned around.
Cousteau was instrumental in limiting commercial whaling.
Jacques Cousteau directly intervened with heads of state, assisting in the gathering of the requisite numbers for the [International Whaling] Commission to pass the commercial whaling moratorium in 1986. The ban is still in effect today, though several countries continue to kill whales in the name of scientific purposes.