Jacques-Yves Cousteau born June 11 1910 was a French #naval officer, #explorer, #conservationist, #filmmaker, #inventor, #scientist, #photographer and #researcher who studied the sea with the most passionate way ever, investigating all forms of life.
He co-developed the Aqua-lung device, envisioned marine conservation and was a member of the Académie française.
Cousteau described his research in a series of publications, such as The Silent World: A Story of Undersea Discovery and Adventure, published in 1953. Cousteau also directed and produced films including the adaptation of The Silent World, which won a Palme d’or at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival.
The Aqua-Lung was invented in Paris during the winter of 1942–1943 in collaboration with engineer Émile Gagnan. It allowed Cousteau and Gagnan to film and explore more easily underwater.
The first Cousteau-Gagnan Aqua-Lungs were mainly twin-hose open-circuit scuba. They have since been made by several manufacturers varying in design and details.
Like modern open-circuit scuba with single-hose regulators, they consisted of one or more high pressure diving cylinders and a diving regulator that supply the diver with breathing gas at ambient pressure trough a demand valve. For more than ten years, seen in the films Épaves (1943) and Le Monde du silence (1956) the main scuba equipment used by Cousteau and his divers was an Aqua-Lung mounted on three diving cylinders, one being used as a safe air reserve.
