The origins of scubadiving began in the 1930s when Jacques Cousteau - a French engineer - produced the first underwater video. His wife Simone and Jacques Cousteau load black-and-white still camera film onto a movie camera. This is the first underwater movie ever produced. In 1943, Emile Gagnan (an industrial gas control system engineer at L'Air Liquide et Cie) designs the Aqualung, which is the first commercially viable scuba unit. The Cousteau family tests the prototype units in 1943.
Jacques-Yves Cousteau
Jacques-Yves Cousteau, a French native, was born in Marseilles. His childhood included snorkeling in warm waters near his home. After graduating from high school, he decided to enter the navy. He was a naval gunnery officer and a master diver during his time in the navy. He fell in love with the underwater world after which he began to swim down to investigate the seabed. He also created an underwater camera.
Emile Gagnan
Many of the innovations used in modern SCUBA diving were developed by Emile Gagnan. His work in the 1950s resulted in the Aqualung, a breathing apparatus that allows a diver to breathe in underwater air. The Aqualung was invented to make scuba diving safer and more accessible for everyone.
Henry Fleuss
Henry Fleuss is a pioneer in the history of scuba diving. He invented the self-contained breathing system and many other innovations. His designs were patented in 1878 by several companies, including Siebe, Gorman & Co. His invention was revolutionary because it allowed the diver to work independently of the surface, without having to rely on a pump or a large crew.
Harry Houdini
Harry Houdini is the most common person you associate with scuba diving. Harry Houdini was a master escape artist who performed many amazing escapes including one from an underwater box! He also demonstrated how you can escape from a straitjacket or lock. His escape skills were immortalized in motion pictures.
Mark V diving helmet
Mark V diving helmets have a long history in scuba diving. It was first created for the US Navy, in 1916. It continued to be used until 1984. It is the original diving helmet. Other helmets are available from the 1820s and before.
William Beebe
William Beebe's scuba diving story is not just a tale of adventures under the sea. He was a scientist who made many diving trips into the ocean to study scientific phenomena. He constructed a marine laboratory in Nonsuch Island, Bermudas to study the underwater world. He studied the behavior of sea creatures and developed a unique diving helmet and breathing apparatus. Beebe also made the first known descent into the deep ocean using a bathysphere, a device that lowered a person to a depth of 3,028 feet (923 meters). This record stood for 49 years.