Jacques Cousteau

Jacques-Yves Cousteau (pronunciation guides: UK and French) was born on 11 June 1910 and died on 25 June 1997. He was a French naval officer, oceanographer, filmmaker and author. He helped invent the first successful open-circuit self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (SCUBA), called the Aqua-Lung. The Aqua-Lung helped him make some of the first underwater documentaries.

Cousteau wrote many books about his explorations under the sea. In his first book, The Silent World: A Story of Undersea Discovery and Adventure, he suggested that porpoises had echolocation abilities. The book was turned into an underwater documentary also called The Silent World. Cousteau and Louis Malle directed it together. It was one of the first films to use underwater cinematography to show the depths of the ocean in color. The film won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1956. For many years it was the only documentary to win this award, until 2004, when Fahrenheit 9/11 received it. The film also won the Academy Award for Best Documentary in 1957.

From 1966 to 1976, Cousteau hosted The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau, a documentary television series. He later presented another documentary series, The Cousteau Odyssey, which ran from 1977 to 1982 on public television stations.

Biography

Jacques Cousteau was born on 11 June 1910 in Saint-André-de-Cubzac, Gironde, France. He completed his studies at the Collège Stanislas in Paris and entered the École navale in 1930. A car accident broke both of his arms and ended his plans to become a naval pilot, so he turned to his love of the ocean. In Toulon, he carried out his first underwater experiments with help from his friend Philippe Tailliez, who lent him some Fernez goggles. Cousteau worked for the French Navy and married Simone Melchior in 1937. Their sons, Jean-Michel and Philippe, later took part in the adventures of the Calypso.

During World War II, Cousteau and Marcel Ichac made the first French underwater film, and in 1943 they used early Aqua-Lung prototypes to make another. Cousteau is credited with improving the Aqua-Lung design, which led to the open-circuit scuba technology used today. In 1950, he founded the French Oceanographic Campaigns and leased the Calypso from Thomas Loel Guinness. In 1956, he won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, and in 1957 he took over as leader of the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco. His television series The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau ran from 1966 to 1976. In 1979, his son Philippe died in a PBY Catalina flying boat crash. In 1985, Cousteau received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and in 1988 he was elected to the Académie française.

Death and legacy

Jacques-Yves Cousteau died of a heart attack on 25 June 1997 in Paris, two weeks after his 87th birthday. He was buried in the family vault at Saint-André-de-Cubzac, his birthplace, where the town named the street leading to his birth house "rue du Commandant Cousteau" and placed a commemorative plaque there.

His legacy includes more than 120 television documentaries, more than 50 books, and an environmental protection foundation with 300,000 members. He liked to call himself an "oceanographic technician," but he was really a skilled showman, teacher, and lover of nature whose work helped many people explore the oceans' resources. His way of sharing science, called "divulgationism," was later used in other fields and became one of the most important parts of modern television. The Oceanographic Museum in Monaco, and perhaps Cousteau himself, has been identified as introducing the "Killer Algae" Caulerpa taxifolia, which is harming the Mediterranean's ecosystem. The Cousteau Society and l'Équipe Cousteau, both founded by him, are still active, and the Society is trying to turn the original Calypso into a museum and raise money for a successor vessel, the Calypso II. In 2007, the International Watch Company made a special diver's watch honoring him, and Fabien Cousteau, his grandson, is building Proteus, an underwater habitat off Curaçao. An underwater plaque honoring him was placed off Avalon, California in 1997 and replaced in 2020.

Awards and honors

During his lifetime, Jacques-Yves Cousteau received many honors. In 1945 he received the Cross of War 1939–1945, and in 1961 the National Geographic Society gave him its Special Gold Medal. He became a Commander of the Legion of Honour in 1972 and received a BAFTA Fellowship in 1975. In 1980 he became an Officer of the Order of Maritime Merit. In 1985 he was made a Grand Cross of the National Order of Merit and received the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Later honors included induction into the Television Hall of Fame in 1987 and election to the Académie Française in 1988. He was also made a Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters, and on 26 January 1990 he became an Honorary Companion of the Order of Australia.

Filmography

Legend

• S – short film
• F – full-length film
• – length of the film is about 45 minutes