Jacques Cousteau popularized the study of the world beneath the water’s surface with his books, films, and television series. Though not a scientific expert, Cousteau gained his appreciation of the seas through experience, and he experimented with cinematographic media to try to re-create a hands-on experience for his audience. Later in his career, he used his vast influence to raise environmental awareness in hopes of curbing the destruction wrought on the natural environment by its human inhabitants.
Cousteau was born on June 11, 1910, in Saint-Andre-de-Cubzac, France. His mother was Elizabeth Duranthon and his father was Daniel Cousteau, a legal adviser. Cousteau suffered from chronic enteritis, a painful intestinal condition, for his first seven years. A 1936 car accident mangled his left arm, but he opted against amputation in favor of rehabilitation, during which time he experienced a spiritual connection with the sea. On July 12, 1937, he married Simone Melchior. Jean-Michel was born in March 1938, and Phillipe was born in December 1939. Though both sons worked extensively with their father, Phillipe was slated to inherit his father’s role before he died in a plane crash on June 28, 1979, near Lisbon, Portugal.
Cousteau attended the Ecole Navale, graduating second in his class in 1933. After a military stint in Shanghai, China, Cousteau returned to the aviation academy and graduated in 1936. He served as a second lieutenant and a gunnery officer in the French navy before World War II. During the war he used his oceanographic experimentation as cover for his participation in the resistance movement, earning a Croix de Guerre with a palm after the war for his contributions to the resistance.
In 1942 Cousteau produced an 18-minute underwater film entitled Sixty Feet Down, commencing his career as an underwater filmmaker. As a pioneer in this field, he had to pave his own way. For example, he invented the AquaLung with Emile Gagnan, which they patented in 1943, increasing the mobility and facility of underwater diving. In 1947 Cousteau set the world free diving record at 300 feet. On July 19, 1950, he purchased the Calypso, an old U.S. minesweeper that he converted into an oceanic laboratory and film studio. Thus outfitted,
Cousteau produced a steady stream of award-winning films from the Calypso. In 1955 he filmed a version of his 1953 book, The Silent World, which sold more than five million copies worldwide. The 90-minute film won the prestigious Palme D’Or at the 1956 Cannes International Film Festival and a 1957 Oscar from the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Over the next three decades, Cousteau produced a string of successful television programs and series, including ABC’s The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau, which ran from 1968 through 1976, PBS’s Cousteau Odyssey, which commenced in 1977, and TBS’s the Cousteau Amazon, which ran in 1984. More than 40 Emmy nominations were bestowed on Cousteau’s television programs, often for their informational content. The Cousteau Society was founded in the 1970s as a nonprofit peace and environmental awareness initiative.
Several awards honored Cousteau’s lifetime achievements, starting with the National Geographic Society’s Gold Medal in 1961 and its Centennial Award in 1988. In 1985, the French government awarded him with the Grand Croix dans l’Ordre National du Merite, and the U.S. government awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Though scientific purists may balk at Cousteau’s lack of training and qualifications, few scientists have done more to raise worldwide awareness of scientific issues than Cousteau. Jacques Cousteau died at the age of 87 on June 25, 1997.
