Jacques-Yves Cousteau

Jacques-Yves Cousteau was born on June 11, 1910, in Saint-André-de-Cubzac (Gironde) in France. He entered the naval academy in 1930, was graduated and became a gunnery officer. Then, while he was training to be a pilot, a serious car accident ended his aviation career. In order to rehabilitate his body, he was told to swim regularly in the Mediterranean. In 1936, near the port of Toulon, he went swimming underwater with goggles for the first time and his life was changed forever. Seeking a way to explore underwater longer than a single lung-full of air would allow, he partnered with an engineer Emile Gagnan to co-invent the Aqualung, what became known as Scuba (Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus) in 1943, and the world was changed forever. Now, for the first time, people could explore the ocean freely. After World War II, Cousteau, along with naval officer Philippe Tailliez and diver Frédéric Dumas, became known as the " mousquemers " (musketeers of the sea) as they carried