Biography of Jacques Cousteau

Profumo di mare

June 11, 1910
June 25, 1997
Scientist, Oceanographer, inventor, filmmaker and Explorer never tire of the deep sea, Jacques Cousteau is a man who has always stood for great inner freedom, having always lived his life according to his desires and aspirations, in spite of everything and of any difficulties. Jacques Yves Cousteau was born on June 11, 1910 in Saint-Andre-de-Cubzac, near Bordeaux. Son of a lawyer who traveled extensively for work, taken from an early habit of touring the world. In 1930 he entered the Naval Academy, with the express purpose of being part of naval aviation. It was a bad car accident, at the age of 26 years, which influenced his life. To rehabilitate the arms was pushed by doctors to swimming. Using a pair of protective glasses allowed him to discover the wonders of what baptize himself "the silent world".
During the war he participated in the resistance involved in espionage Cousteau. This earned him the Legion of honor attributed to it by General De Gaulle. It was during the war years, in 1942, that Jacques Cousteau perfected with engineer Emile Gagnan, the first regulator for diving. An invention that would revolutionize the way down underwater and it remained substantially unchanged even today. At the same time Cousteau continued to cultivate his passion for cinema and put up one of the first underwater film cameras.
At the end of the years ' 40 there was the turning point in his life: the billionaire English Guiness put at disposal a Minesweeper launched a few years earlier. Cousteau baptize him Calypso. The first major expedition took place in the Mediterranean, to the archaeological excavations on the Grand Conglue an ancient shipwreck off the coast of Marseille. Then it was the turn of the mythical journey through the unexplored Red Sea and the Indian Ocean which will lead to the creation of the first great film: "the silent world", directed by Louis Malle. A film awarded Oscar and Palme d'Or. The book sold over 5 million copies in 20 languages. The "world without Sun" was his second great success while followed shipments and Jacques Cousteau turned his attention increasingly to the world of science and technology of underwater exploration. This resulted with the experiments of Precontinente, since the beginning of the years ' 60, to the creation of the first "saturation" diving, which enabled man to live for long periods of time exposed to high pressures. This concept is a milestone in the field of professional diving, especially in the field of offshore oil extraction. In a statement said: "we were young when we are dedicated to the discovery, exploration.
When what we really wanted was descend deeper and live on the sea floor, recover the remains of a large Roman galley, facing the sharks, terrifying and mysterious sea monsters. And youth is spirited, enthusiastic, total, self-centered, extremist, reckless. We were young and we thought to ourselves, to the realization of our dreams. " "Then we became adults. Thus more altruistic, more reflective. Then the main interest became to tell our experiences, to engage others in our adventure. The purpose of life became to inflame tempers, to enthuse. We realized that a man alone is not nothing but relates to those around him.
Through images, through stories, their experiences were changing shape, bought thickness. Only through the disclosure, the growth of the individual could become the growth of humanity as a whole. Just so everyone's heritage could become a part of the culture of all. " "Today we have travelled the world far and wide, we revealed and told the secrets. Now we must work to preserve this. Now you must ensure that the images of the films, the stories of the books are not an end in themselves. You have to fight because everyone has a right to a happy life in a planet still intact. In view of these declarations of intent followed many productions, which would be very long to enumerate. A very important step for the Commander was the honor of a member of the Académie Francaise, obtained in 1989. Jacques Cousteau died in Paris on June 25, 1997, at the age of 87 years.
Article contributed by the team of collaborators.