Jacques Cousteau Aquatic Engineer

Birth Cousteau was born on June eleventh, 1910 in St.-Andre-de- Cubzac, France, near Bordeaux.

Childhood Interests Cousteau had two main childhood interests while growing up in France. These interests were in swimming and machines.

Swimming As a child growing up around the ocean, Cousteau loved to swim. Unfortunately, he soon became too sickly and was forced to stop. Cousteau was devastated. Later, his father’s boss actually recommended swimming to build up Cousteau’s strength. Cousteau was thrilled. The sport quickly became one of his passions. Cousteau swam whenever and wherever he could.

Machines Cousteau always had an interest in machines. When he was young, Cousteau loved to take apart and reassemble them to learn how they worked. He would work with any machine he could get his hands on. “No machine was safe in the Cousteau home.” Although Cousteau was content with just about any machine, his favorite seemed to be the movie camera, a new invention to his time. He was constantly shooting home movies and filming family events.

Eventually, Cousteau’s extreme interest in his hobbies and lack of interest school got him expelled when he broke seventeen windows. He was soon after sent to one of the strictest boarding schools in France. Fortunately, this new school had a positive effect on Cousteau. He straightened himself out and even joined the navy soon after graduating. Schooling

Movie Making Later in life, Cousteau’s childhood interest in movie making took off. His first real movie was made during his third year of naval training when Cousteau was sent around the world on a cruise. He took several smaller videos of his experiences that he later combined into one full sized film reel that he could show to his friends. Cousteau also made several underwater films that included: “Eighteen Meters Down” “Danger Under the Sea” “Landscapes of Silence.”

Underwater Inventions Cousteau’s interest with machines and aquatics also took off around this time. In 1943, Cousteau helped develop the aqualung, a device to help people stay underwater longer. He also invented the first underwater diving station and the first underwater observation vehicle, named the diving saucer.

Calypso Cousteau even had his own research ship, Calypso. Although Cousteau’s beloved ship is still afloat today, signs of hope for Calypso are slim as possible plans are made for it to be turned into an underwater paradise beneath the waves.

Books Cousteau’s books included The Silent World Three Adventures: Galapagos, Titicaca, the Blue Holes The Living Sea The Ocean World The Jacques Cousteau Odyssey The Shark: Splendid Savage of the Sea The Ocean World of Jacques Cousteau The Human, the Orchid, and the Octopus Much like his reason for making movies, Cousteau wrote several books in order to share his underwater discoveries with the world.

Death After eighty-seven years of influential discoveries and incredible accomplishments in aquatic exploration, Cousteau died on June twenty- fifth, 1997 in Paris, France. It is believed that the cause of Jacques Cousteau’s death was a heart attack