“Educating people to understand, to love and to protect the water

1. “Educating people to understand, to love and to protect the water systems of the planet, marine and fresh water, for the well- being of future generations…”

2. Jacques-Yves Cousteau is his full name. Jacques-Yves was born in France on June 11, 1910. He was a sickly child. Nonetheless, Cousteau always loved the water and in his early teens, he became interested in machines and even built a model crane and a battery-operated car. Also in his early teens, Cousteau became fascinated with films. He saved his money and bought a home movie camera. About the great explorer “ Sometimes we are lucky enough to know that our lives have been changed, to discard the old, embrace the new, and run headlong down an immutable course. It happened to me when my eyes were opened to the sea ”

3. In high school, Cousteau became bored with school and began to cause trouble. He was expelled from high school for breaking 17 of the school’s windows. As a result, his parents sent him to a strict boarding school. So he entered the Ecole Navale (Naval Academy) in Brest. • A near-fatal car crash at age 26 denied him his wings, and he was transferred to sea duty, where he swam rigorously to strengthen badly weakened arms. • It was during this time that he began his underwater explorations and began working on a breathing machine for longer dives.

4. In World War II he spent time as a spy and was awarded several medals. During the war, Cousteau still found time to continue his underwater work. In 1943, he and a French engineer perfected the aqualung, which allowed a diver to stay underwater for several hours. Divers used the aqualung to located and remove enemy mines after World War II. The Way of his Life “When you dive, you begin to feel that you are an angel”

5. After the war he became a president of the French Oceanographic Campaigns. In 1950, a millionaire gave Cousteau money to buy the 400-ton former mine-sweeper Calypso. He converted it into a floating laboratory outfitted with the most modern equipment. That same year, Cousteau bought the ship Calypso to further his explorations. To finance his trips and increase public awareness of his undersea investigations, Cousteau produced numerous films and published many books. His films include The Silent World (1956) and World Without Sun (1966). Both won Academy Awards for best documentary. In 1952-1953 Cousteau took the Calypso to the Red Sea and shot the first color footage ever taken at a depth of 150 feet.

6. Because of his many projects, Cousteau retired from the French navy. In 1957, he became director of the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco. Then he headed the Conshelf Saturation Dive Program. The Conshelf program was an experiment in which men lived and worked underwater for extended periods of time. In 1968, Cousteau was asked to make a TV series. For the next 8 years, The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau introduced the public a world of sharks, whales, dolphins, sunken treasure, and coral reefs. In 1974, Cousteau started the Cousteau Society to protect ocean life. The membership of this non-profit group has grown to include more than 300,000 members worldwide.

7. Then, in 1981, Fondation Cousteau (later EQUIPE COUSTEAU) was born in France. From these bases of supporters, he made a worldwide petition campaign in 1990 to save Antarctica from mineral exploitation. His effort was successful: this untouched continent is now protected, for at least 50 years. Captain Cousteau died on June 25, 1997, at the age of 87. The man is gone but his message has never been more alive. The Cousteau Society and EQUIPE COUSTEAU keep it ever in the forefront of public awareness.

8. Captain Jacques-Yves Cousteau left his mark forever on the planet and the oceans. When Cousteau and his teams got aboard Calypso to explore the world, no one yet knew about the effects of pollution, over-exploitation of resources and coastal development. The films of Calypso´s adventures drew the public´s attention to the potentially disastrous environmental consequences of human carelessness. Cousteau, through his life and his work, was a major player in the environmental movement. • He was the father of the environmental movement. What he will be remembered for most in history is the way he connected with regular people and brought the mystery and beauty of oceans into our personal lives. He was also a romantic who once said that for him, water was the ultimate symbol of love.

9. Famous people about Jacques-Yves Cousteau • In 1985 President Ronald Reagan said: ’’He will be remembered not only as a pioneer in his time, but as a dominant figure in world history”. • French President Jacques Chirac mourned Cousteau as an "enchanter," a legend who "represented the defense of nature, modern adventure, invention of the possible." • U.S. President Bill Clinton hailed the explorer as a man of "rare insight and extraordinary spirit."

10. “ All these things have been hard won. And we did it and I am proud of it”.