What Jacques Willows Cousteau discovered. Jacques Yves Cousteau is the man who opened the underwater world to everyone. "Underwater houses" and "Cousteau Society"

23.11.2019

Jacques-Yves Cousteau - French explorer of the oceans, director of popular science films "Underwater Odyssey", inventor of scuba gear, author of many books about the underwater world. Friends and acquaintances called him Captain Cousteau. In general, it can be argued that the work of this person opened the "blue continent" for many people.

Oceanologist Jacques-Yves Cousteau

Jacques-Yves was born in the suburbs of Bordeaux, in a small town called Saint-André-de-Cubzac. His father Daniel was a lawyer known throughout the country as the youngest lawyer to receive a doctorate. The boy's mother, Elizabeth, came from a family of pharmacists, but she herself was engaged in housekeeping and raising Jacques-Yves and his older brother Pierre-Antoine.

The family lived permanently in Paris, but traveled a lot. While relaxing at sea, Cousteau Jr. learned to swim and fell in love with the water forever. By the way, at the age of 7, the child was diagnosed with an incurable chronic enteritis, due to which he remained more than thin for the rest of his life.

After the First World War, the Cousteau family moved to the United States, where Jacques-Yves became interested in mechanics and invention, and also made his first dive under water. After returning to Paris, the 13-year-old boy built a working model car, the engine of which was powered by a battery, and also began filming the world around him with his own movie camera.

The teenager was interested in so many things that he simply did not have time for school lessons. Therefore, the parents sent their son to a closed boarding school, which he graduated with honors.

Then there was the Naval Academy and service in Shanghai. One day he saw diving goggles in a roadside shop. Having tried them, Jacques-Yves realized what he was going to devote his life to.

Movies and books

In the early 1950s, Jacques-Yves Cousteau rented an old decommissioned minesweeper from the British Royal Navy, named it "Calypso" and began exploring the ocean. The expedition resulted in the popular science book "In the World of Silence", published in 1953. She brought Cousteau worldwide recognition, and the film, based on her motives, instantly made him a legend in the documentary genre. The painting "In the World of Silence" was awarded the Oscar and the Palme d'Or.

The debut film was followed by such tapes as "Golden Fish" and "World Without Sun", and then the series "Underwater Odyssey of the Cousteau Team" appeared, which was released on screens for a total of 20 years. In addition to him, Jacques-Yves made such cycles of films about the oceans, seas, rivers and their inhabitants, such as Oasis in Space, Adventures in North America, Amazon, Rediscovery of the World and many others.

These films were a huge success, as they allowed people to look into places that are usually inaccessible to them. But not all experts approved of Cousteau's work. He has been repeatedly criticized for being pseudo-scientific and especially for his mistreatment of fish.

So, his colleague Wolfgang Auer argued that many of the killings and cruelties to fish were targeted and were done by Cousteau for high-quality shots in his films. Also, sometimes Jacques-Yves was accused of fake footage, for example, the exit of people from the bathyscaphe into a deep-sea cave, where the atmosphere is usually unbreathable.

inventions

At first, Jacques-Yves Cousteau dived under water using a mask and snorkel, but then he, together with his friend Emile Gagnan, developed a device that allows you to breathe deep under water. The first scuba gear in the world was tested by him in 1938 and helped not only Cousteau, but also many scientists to better understand the underwater world.

Today, probably, shooting underwater does not look like something supernatural, but before Jacques-Yves, no one could have imagined this. It was he who developed the waterproof camera and lighting device, and later made the first television system capable of shooting video at great depths.

Also, the French researcher owns the theory that porpoises have a phenomenal ability to echolocation, that is, these animals feel the best way through the expanses of water. This theory was later proven by professional biologists.

And thanks to his popular science books and films, Cousteau became the progenitor of a new way of television communication - divulgationism, that is, the exchange of opinions between professionals and an audience of ordinary people who are interested. Today, all modern talk shows and other television projects are built using this technology, for which, again, the French oceanographer must be thanked.

Personal life

The first time Jacques-Yves Cousteau married in 1937 Simone Melchior, daughter of the legendary French admiral. Simone took part in most of her husband's expeditions, and the team of the minesweeper "Calypso" came up with the affectionate nickname "Shepherdess" for her.

The couple had two sons - Jean-Michel and Philippe, who died in 1979 during the crash of the Catalina plane. After this tragedy, the relationship between Jacques-Yves and Simone went wrong. They began to live separately, but never officially divorced.

When Simone Melchior died of cancer in 1991, Cousteau married Francine Triplet, with whom he had lived for more than 10 years by that time and raised common children - daughter Diana and son Pierre.

By the way, because of his remarriage, his relationship with his eldest son Jean-Michel finally deteriorated, and he even forbade him in court to use the name Cousteau for his commercial activities.

Death

Jacques-Yves Cousteau died on June 25, 1997 from a myocardial infarction. The burial of the body of the great scientist was carried out on a family plot in the cemetery of Saint-Andre-de-Cubzac, where all his ancestors are buried. But his research activities did not stop. The Cousteau Team founded by him still operates today.

Interestingly, the memory of Jacques-Yves Cousteau is captured not only in France, but also in Russia. For example, one of the general education schools in St. Petersburg with in-depth study of the French language is named after him.

Filmography

1956 - "In the world of silence"
1958 - "Goldfish"
1965 - "World without the sun"
1966-1985 - "Underwater odyssey of the Cousteau team"
1975 - "Journey to the End of the World"
1977 - "Oasis in Space"
1981-1982 - "Adventure in North America"
1982-1985 - "Amazon"
1986-1999 - "Rediscovery of the World"
1995 - "The Legend of Calypso"

Bibliography

1953 - "In the world of silence"
1963 - "The Living Sea"
1965 - "World without the sun"
1970 - Shark: The Brilliant Barbarian of the Seas
1971 - "Life and Death of Corals"
1972 - "The Mighty Lord of the Seas"
1975 - Dolphins
1979 - Life at the End of the Earth
1984 - Jacques Cousteau's Journey to the Amazon
1985 - "Jacques Cousteau: Ocean World"

Cousteau's team intends to live in the ocean at this base for 31 days, which no one has done before. Fabien Cousteau is the grandson of Jacques-Yves Cousteau, the son of Jean-Michel Cousteau, an ocean daredevil who lived in a pack of white sharks for four and a half months. His life, fears and why he again goes to depth - in an essay by The New Times

In the hardships of ocean life, Fabien Cousteau is embarrassed only by food, but not much / photo: Carrie Vonderhaar

Everything will go as usual: first a question about grandfather, Jacques-Yves Cousteau, then a question about childhood on the famous Calypso, and Fabien Cousteau will correct him as usual - my grandfather had two ships, the former minesweeper Calypso and the turbo-sailing Alsion, and yes, he grew up aboard both ships. Then a couple more questions about my grandfather, his famous red cap and why Fabien himself does not wear the same one, and in general why he does all this inexplicable madness, like the case when he lived for more than four months in a school of white sharks. In anticipation of these endlessly asked questions, Fabien Cousteau twists in his chair, studies the black walls of the tiny studio of the BBC's New York office and cheerfully exclaims: "It's even cramped here than in the aquarium!" A young BBC employee tries in vain to set up the equipment to contact the BBC head office in London, and does not react to the guest's jokes.

"Do you have internet here? Cousteau chuckles and pretends to fiddle with the console knobs. Maybe games? You know, I can speak to them with a French accent if you like. I don't know, will they understand me then? Can I understand their London accent? It will be fun! In general, I can speak French with them.”

It's 10 am in New York, 3 pm in London, but the London office can't hear anything, the radio station employee nervously deals with the sound and sternly throws to the oceanographer: “Let's better focus on the interview. English is preferred." “Oh yes, I think I can do it even in my sleep,” Cousteau is not offended at all.

Now, five weeks before June 1, the day he and his colleagues will go deep, Cousteau has to talk to reporters twice as often as usual. He knows by heart all the editions in the city, after the broadcasts he squeamishly wipes off the generous television make-up from his face, slowly flowing in the spring sun, answers with well-worn, almost memorized words and adds jokes to the place. Fabien Cousteau treats his fate as a test, because otherwise no one will know what he and his team are doing. In five weeks, he and six others will sail 9 miles from the Florida Keys, a chain of coral islands and reefs, put on diving suits and scuba gear, dive from a boat, dive into the Atlantic Ocean to a depth of 20 meters and swim into the Aquarius underwater laboratory, one from several similar bases in the world. Mission-31 will set a record: Fabien Cousteau's team will live and work in a laboratory the size of a trolleybus for 31 days. Before them, not a single person on Earth had lived in the ocean for so long. Army conditions, astronaut-like loads, bunk beds, shared toilet, narrow aisle, small kitchen, 10-12 hours of scuba diving per day, and fish, yes, especially fish, they are silent and do not ask questions.

The BBC employee finally contacts London and gives Cousteau the studio headphones. A greeting is heard in the ears, Cousteau responds with a cheerful “Hi!”, Pushes his Starbuck glass away, smiles on duty and prepares for the first question, about his grandfather. Everything will go as usual, perfectly, smoothly, and once again he will not be asked the most important question: what is it like to be a descendant of two of the world's most famous oceanographers and explorers and at the same time be stupid to do the same?

But Fabien Cousteau has an answer for this.

Jacques-Yves Cousteau himself developed the turbo-sail technology for the Alcyone. Waters of Madagascar, April 1, 2003

French in New York

Frenchman Fabien Cousteau, a native of Paris, spent most of his life in the United States of America. The family constantly moved, and Fabien managed to change his place of residence 24 times. In recent years, he settled in New York, in the prestigious Brooklyn Heights area, although he assures that he mostly changes clothes at home, but lives in a suitcase. He speaks English without an accent, although he can "turn it on" at any time, because Americans find it "charming". He thinks in two languages at the same time, he also sees dreams in both languages, he often uses marine terms like “fishing” in the sense of “search” in his speech. He smiles and laughs in an American way, he writes the dates in European style - day, month, year. He likes to play the fool like a child, dresses like a New York dude in shirts, jeans and jackets with a chest smart handkerchief and, like a European, wears a backpack with an umbrella sticking out of his pocket. Exceptionally well-mannered and affable, tall, in good shape, short gray hair, sometimes turning into silver. Instead of the typical New York iPhone, there is Nokia Lumia, one of the main sponsors of Mission 31.

Fabien Cousteau has no salary. His line of work is called "oceanographer-researcher" and "filmmaker". This means that he studies the oceans, makes documentaries and manages a team of two dozen people. Cousteau also runs his own non-profit company, Plant A Fish, which seeks to improve the aquatic ecosystem around the world by supporting and restoring ocean flora and fauna. The money comes from movies, producing, speaking at conferences, and sometimes sponsorships. And although Cousteau jokes that the luxury of a salary, insurance and pension should not be underestimated, he himself does not miss those times when he had all this: it was a period when he tried to convince himself that the ocean was not for him .

For more than 20 years, Calypso has been rebuilt from a pile of metal into a museum. The photo was taken in 1997.

Roots

Jacques-Yves Cousteau with his grandson Fabien. 1970

Fabien was born in Paris in 1967. Two years earlier, his grandfather Jacques-Yves Cousteau, already a well-known oceanographer, scientist and scuba inventor, received an Oscar for the documentary film A World Without Sun. The film told about the construction by the Cousteau team of the world's first underwater home - the Conshelf Two base at a depth of 11 meters in the Red Sea, in the Shab Rumi lagoon, where Jacques-Yves lived with the team for 30 days.

“My grandmother Simone was on Calypso more than grandfather and father combined. In fact, she was a real captain of the ship, and it was thanks to her that my grandfather was so successful, she just didn’t get into the camera, says Fabien. “She was an amazing lady, she was the first woman scuba diver, the first woman aquanaut.” Fabien's mother, Anna-Maria, was an expedition photographer aboard the Calypso and Alcyone for many years. Fabien's father, Jean-Michel Cousteau, is an architect by education, but as a result, in 1979, after the death of his younger brother Philippe, he joined his father's team. Philippe was Cousteau Sr.'s favorite, made all his films with him and was supposed to become the main successor to the family business. Philippe crashed near Lisbon in a PBY Catalina amphibious aircraft. Crushed by grief, Jacques-Yves called his eldest son into action, and their partnership lasted 14 years. Jean-Michel Cousteau eventually became a figure in his own right in the world of oceanography and environmentalism. Philip's children are also engaged in oceanography, like Fabien's sister, Celine. In general, a real clan, which, however, Fabien does not intend to continue: he does not have and will not have children, because he does not want to be an eternally absent parent.

Jaws

Throughout his life, Fabien grew up among scientists, explorers, documentarians and oceanographers. “I didn’t know anything other than that as a child,” he says today. When he was four years old, he "like a good French child" asked his dad to bring him fried chicken from KFC, and while Jean-Michel was wandering around Los Angeles for fast food, Fabien made his first diving dive. Upon his return, Jean-Michel found his son at the bottom of the pool, sharing one scuba gear with a family friend in turn. “I was curious: I saw that all the members of the family were diving, and I thought: well, let's see what it's all about,” explains Fabien. A week later, he was presented with his own scuba gear, and the family went diving on the coast of California. By the age of seven, Fabien was diving professionally and seeing sharks all the time, and it was always something completely natural. Sharks, says Cousteau, are a sign of a healthy ecosystem; now he sees sharks much less often. Then the famous Belgian comic "The Adventures of Tintin" fell into his hands. The cover of Fabien's favorite issue, Blood Rockam Treasure, features adventurous reporter Tintin and his faithful dog, Milu, plowing the ocean floor in a shark-like submarine. The submarine looks deliberately cartoony - the “shark” has a stupid smile, bulging eyes, and a glass dome grows from its back, like a huge blister, in which Tintin and Mila are visible. This image forever cut into the subcortex of the young Fabien's head: even today on his iPad-mini case with this picture. Fabien is sure that there is no stronger motivation in the world than a child's fantasy.

„

“My grandmother was on the Calypso more than my grandfather and father combined. In fact, she was the real captain of the ship."

”

At the age of seven, Fabien and his family traveled on a cruise ship on the Atlantic Ocean. The recent premiere of Jaws was shown in the ship's cinema, and Fabien asked his parents to take him to the screening, but the parents of a child who had seen real sharks many times, strictly forbade him to watch Jaws. “Now you’re watching Jaws and it’s so funny. It's such a 1970s! Cousteau laughs. “But in those years, he made many people afraid of the ocean. And they played this movie on an ocean liner, of course." After listening to the instructions of his relatives, Fabien immediately made his way into the hall. Immediately afterwards, again "being a clever French child", he began to ask his parents questions, from which everything became clear. Fabien was punished for a month. "It was worth it! recalls the oceanographer with a laugh. — I was fascinated, shocked by this incredible animal. Fascinated by how it devoured boats, divers, buoys, budget.” The film left the young Cousteau puzzled: how could it be, he himself saw sharks and they are not at all such ruthless killers. He finally understood what he wanted: to show the world the real life of sharks. And Fabien understood exactly how he wants to do it - with the help of a shark submarine, like Tintin's.

Jacques-Yves and Jean-Michel Cousteau on board the Calypso. Amazon, 1975

Choice

Fabien Cousteau understood from the very beginning that he really had no choice. He always knew what he wanted to do, but he knew that being the third generation in an illustrious dynasty and continuing their work was a suicidal occupation. Then Fabien decided to check: is he really attracted by the ocean, as he thinks? “I needed a test, proof—whether they pull, whether they attract, whether other things puzzle me.” On principle, he did not go to study as an oceanologist and scientist, instead he graduated from Boston University and received a bachelor's degree in environmental economics. Studied international marketing and business, worked as a sales agent in an art gallery, account manager, graphic designer. These were the days when he received a stable salary and was engaged in "traditional work". In his search, Fabien came across only one thing that fascinates him: vintage motorcycles. I never thought of becoming a racer, but I found a hobby for life: when I have time, I lock myself in the garage, turn off the phone and spend hours digging in a pile of metal. “This is my zen moment, to sit when no one can find me, take something as simple as a motor, take it apart, put it back together and breathe a whole new life into something that might otherwise go to the landfill. I love it very much,” says Cousteau. In general, no matter how he broke himself, no matter how he fought with himself, but in the end he came to what he had to come to: only the ocean makes him happy.

In the summer of 1997, a few months before Fabien's thirtieth birthday, Jacques-Yves Cousteau died at the age of 87. He left behind 134 documentaries, 70 books, a new, pop-entertainment approach to science, conservation organizations with over 300,000 members, scuba gear, turbosail technology, the Calypso barge wrecked and sunk in Singapore, family grandeur and family drama. A few years before his death, Jacques-Yves began to sue his son Jean-Michel, who opened the Cousteau Hotel in Fiji. Cousteau-grandfather demanded that Cousteau-son should not call his businesses by the surname "Cousteau", but call them as they are: "Jean-Michel Cousteau". The scandal was fierce, the press was delighted. If you talk to Fabien, he is ready to remember it. According to him, the scandal turned out to be big mainly thanks to journalists, because in fact it was just an arbitration dispute, the meaning of which was to separate the non-profit activities of grandfather's environmental protection "Cousteau Society" and the activities of his father's business. “Has it affected our family? Of course it did. If we were normal people, non-public figures, this would be resolved the way all disputes in the family are resolved. Cousteau-son lost the dispute, the hotel is called "Jean-Michel Cousteau", and in articles about Cousteau-grandfather and Cousteau-son they write only this way: there were big disagreements between them on a common cause. The conflict of fathers and children in its purest form.

In the early 2000s, Cousteau's grandson made the same choice: he dropped everything and returned to the ocean. He says that it was a difficult decision: he was well aware of the expectations of the public that he would face. Fabien began making films and created the three-year documentary series Ocean Adventures with his father and sister Celine. And then I finally decided: it was time for the submarine shark.

The Cousteau family: Fabien, Celine and their father, Jean-Michel. 2007 working on Ocean Adventures

floating horse

Troy was a true masterpiece of crazy engineering. The shark submarine was supposed to deceive the white sharks with its appearance so that they thought that next to them, if not their compatriot, then at least a slow cousin from Australia, as Fabien joked. "Troy" was not at all like the naive Tintin boat from Cousteau's childhood. It was a steel killer, huge, terrible as death itself, almost Jaws. Evil sharp muzzle, wide, devilish mouth. Bent steel tubing frame, flexible plastic backbone, body sheathed in thick latex mixed with glass chips and glass to mimic the rough skin of a shark. A folding head made of fiberglass, chambers in the "eyes" disguised as fish-sticks, and a closed pneumatic system that drives air like blood through the veins through the tail and fin pistons. The boat is not airtight, so Fabien put on a diving suit, climbed into the womb filled with water through a folding head, lay down on his stomach and controlled this four-meter boat with joysticks. Five hundred and forty-four kilograms of pure floating madness.

„

He always knew that being the third generation in an illustrious dynasty was a suicidal job.

”

"Troy" took three years of life from Cousteau. When he first started looking for people who would build him a boat, they told him: boy, you are completely crazy. Then there were people as crazy as Fabien, they collected the $100,000 needed for the construction as best they could. But when everything worked out, Cousteau's group went to the island of Guadeloupe, and every day Cousteau climbed into this deep-sea mutant, swam after the marked flock, infiltrated it and filmed and studied its habits for four and a half months in a row. “The only way to learn something new about these animals is to see their behavior when we are not around. When we don’t sit in a cage, don’t poke them with a stick, don’t feed them, Cousteau explains with fanatical aspiration. “Troy wasn't just a fun gadget, it was a new way to study sharks, to disguise ourselves as if we weren't there, to swim like one of them. How do they communicate with each other? What is the reality around them? How do they hunt when you don't stimulate them? Fabien says that in the days of his grandfather and father, sharks were either simply kept away or killed out of harm's way, and he decided that he just had to stop being an aggressor. But was it scary? “I felt comfortable. They never touched the boat, they did not show aggression, they were relaxed. We learned that this animal, which is three to five times larger than us, can be frightened by us.” The undercover operation was a success: Fabien filmed 170 hours of unique footage, most of which, mostly bioscience, was never included in his 2006 film Mind of a Demon for the American public broadcaster PBS. Television wanted sharks and spectacles, not science and new knowledge. Cousteau, however, does not look upset: after all, he still achieved his goal.

When Fabien came up with the idea of a shark boat, he was told that he was crazy. Waters of Guadeloupe, 2006

Mission Florida Keys

The conditions of life under water are in many ways similar to life in space. A state close to weightlessness, overloads, semi-finished products, food in tubes or diluted in water, a small living area and a boundless silent something around. Actually, NASA often sends astronauts to train in Aquarius, Fabien compares the base with the International Space Station, and people who live under water for some time are called aquanauts. There are several differences from life in space. First, hair grows faster underwater. Secondly, there is still gravity in the base itself, and since aquanauts swim a lot, their legs do not atrophy like astronauts. Thirdly, Fabien laughs, if you finally get tired of colleagues whom you recognize very closely in a room with an open toilet, then you can always go out into the ocean. The area is 3 by 14.5 meters, the pressure is three times greater than on the ISS - three atmospheres, cabinets, equipment, bunk beds along the walls, the passage is 70 centimeters, so that seven people will constantly hurt each other. But there is Wi-Fi, and with it Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Skype, e-mail. Fabienne asks, could it be imagined that his grandfather was sitting on the ocean floor off the coast of Florida and teaching a lesson via video link to schoolchildren in China? Of course not. And Fabienne will teach such a lesson.

Until June 1, Fabien visited Aquarius several times, but only for an hour; his team will break the previous record of being at this base - 19 days. According to Fabien, there are few people in the world who have lived underwater for more than a few weeks. The only one who, after July 2, 2014, when Cousteau and the team return to the surface, will be close to such a long stay under water is, of course, his own grandfather Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Conshelf Two. True, Fabien's team will live at a depth twice as large, and therefore the pressure will be greater and the conditions more difficult. Fabien's team is going to study the impact of climate change and pollution on the ocean, as well as the physiological and psychological impact of life under water, without the sun, on the person himself.

According to Fabien Cousteau, each new generation of people should stand on the shoulders of the previous one, take the best from them, but always interpret the surrounding reality in their own way. Jacques-Yves Cousteau opened the ocean to the world. Jean-Michel Cousteau dedicated himself to protecting the ocean as a single environment. Fabien went further: he says that you need to start thinking out of the box (go beyond stereotypes), because if you study the ocean in the same way as you studied it before, you won’t learn anything new. Cousteau believes that the time has come for young, risky, daring, self-confident and enthusiastic people, a lot of discoveries await them. “You have no idea how many white spots are left in the ocean,” says Fabien. “What we have learned over the past hundred years is less than five percent. We know so negligibly little, only basic things. Species, climate change, geology, dynamics - we all don't understand it very well. But it is precisely this that governs our entire life, economy, technology, science, and medicine. This planet is called "Earth", but it should be called "Ocean".

There are only a few similar Aquarius bases in the world. The size of a trolleybus and conditions like the ISS. Florida Keys, 2014

Surname Burden

Fabien Cousteau's apartment in Brooklyn Heights has a small office. This is a very austere room with white walls, a table, a white marker board and a corner shelf. Here Fabien works and gives Skype interviews. That piece of the office, which is visible to a person on Skype, is built so that the eye notices only the most important thing. Here are boxes from under Nokia phones, which the team will use to film research, here are boxes with Doxa watches, also sponsors, here is a white board covered with the last items of preparations for the launch of Mission-31. There are three weeks before the start of the project, Fabien has bags under his eyes, his face is slightly unshaven, and he writes in small handwriting on the board everything that must be completed before leaving New York for the archipelago. Then, finally, media silence before the launch, two weeks of test swims, endless repetitions of safety protocols, training, honing communications, preparing for illnesses, accidents, injuries, breakdowns, repairs. There is no time even to be nervous.

„

“This drives me crazy. I'm not my grandfather! But I have a feeling that people just want to see my grandfather.”

”

If, in the midst of all this mess, you ask Fabien Cousteau, which he is usually not asked about - about his conflict with the outside world, then for the first time he will run out of ready-made answers, the media shell will fly off, and he will begin to choose words. All his life he is met and judged by his last name. The surname, says Cousteau, on the one hand, opens the door, but on the other hand, when you enter this door, the expectations from you are ten times higher than from others. And that would be fine, but often the surname does not solve anything - in the end, finding funding always becomes a problem for Fabien. But there is a constant comparison with the grandfather and expectations of the best result. “But there is always only one first, one pioneer. People see only the result of decades of work and do not see the failures of their grandfather, and it’s simply not fair to measure the current generation, me, by this, ”says Cousteau. It seems to Cousteau that when people look at him, they can think one of two things - either he was just lucky with the genes and he came to everything ready, or he does all this only because of his grandfather. “But this legacy comes with a heavy responsibility and a preconceived audience,” he stammers without practiced phrases. “Sometimes it infuriates me. I'm not my grandfather! I am my own person! And I'm doing what I've dreamed of doing all my life, this is my world. But I have a feeling that people are just waiting to see my grandfather. This is my conflict - to be myself and have the right to bear this name. It's a privilege and a burden." Fabien Cousteau smiles wearily, for real, not in an American way, not feigned. After all, he says, this is only the very beginning of his career, and there are many more insane oceanic exploits ahead. Which ones, he refuses to say, only mentioned that he dreams of one day exploring the oceans of Mars. And he hopes that, too, will leave a mark.

Once, in an interview, Fabien Cousteau quoted his grandfather, who said that there is only one way in the world to photograph a fish - to become a fish yourself. Probably, this principle also works in other cases: for example, to be Cousteau, you need to become Cousteau.

photo: Carrie Vonderhaar, Georges Gobet/AFP, East News, Anne-Marie Cousteau, AFP, East News, naglubine.com, Kip Evans, Missioin Blue

Name: Jacques-Yves Cousteau

Age: 87 years old

Place of Birth: Bordeaux, France

A place of death: Paris, France

Activity: oceanographer, photographer, director, inventor, writer

Family status: was married

Jacques-Yves Cousteau - Biography

He always wanted to be independent and first. In science, research, love, he went ahead - hence the conflicts, and enemies, and mistakes. But the Captain never felt regrets: in his declining years, Jacques-Yves Cousteau admitted that he would repeat everything - from beginning to end.

Cousteau was a real Frenchman - active, enthusiastic. “I have done everything in my life with passion. Passion for me is inseparable from life itself,” he said. Perhaps this is the key to the incredible success of the Captain, as his friends and like-minded people called him.

Childhood

Jacques-Yves was born on June 11, 1910. His hometown of Saint-André-de-Cubzac, in the Bordeaux region, was cut through by the Dordogne River. And Cousteau from childhood fell in love with the water element. In the United States, where his father, a lawyer, took his family and went to work, the boy got his first scuba diving experience. At the summer scout camp, he decided to demonstrate his dexterity and strength to his American friends. This venture almost ended in failure: Cousteau strove so stubbornly to reach the bottom of the lake that he almost drowned. But each time, having rested, he dived again.

Studies

Having matured, Jacques-Yves decided to become a naval officer: he graduated from the Higher National Naval School, went on his first campaign. And when he returned, he achieved a transfer to aviation: the girls adored pilots, and Jacques-Yves - girls. But soon disaster struck: the young officer almost died in a car accident. The injuries were severe - the vertebrae were displaced, the arm was paralyzed, the lung was pierced. But Jacques did not intend to become an invalid - after all, he is in love! Simone Melchior, granddaughter of the illustrious admiral Jean Baem, reciprocated his feelings. Indeed, the strength of character and the support of a beloved woman can work wonders: a year later, Cousteau managed to put his mutilated body in order.

Jacques-Yves Cousteau - biography of personal life

Young people got married, sons appeared - Jean-Michel and Philip. Jacques-Yves returned to the army. His destination was Toulon. Cousteau served under the command of Philippe Taye, a poet in love with the sea and spearfishing. Having made the first “adult” dive on his advice, Jacques-Yves felt his calling: from now on, the ocean took possession of his entire being. Soon, a group of Les Mousquemers (“Musketeers of the Sea”) appeared in the unit, whose members - Taye, Frederic Dumas and Cousteau - rushed into the depths in their free time.

Diving equipment was then scarce and consisted of only terribly uncomfortable goggles. True, Jacques-Yves also had an old movie camera. It remained to come up with ways to stay under water for as long as necessary, and dive to the depth that was necessary. Cousteau took up the solution of these problems. And soon the war began.

Movies

Jacques-Yves served as a gunner on the cruiser Duplex, and when France surrendered, he became a civilian. True, in 1941 he happened to take part in an operation to steal ciphers from the representative office of fascist Italy in the city of Sète (in 1946, Cousteau received the Order of the Legion of Honor for her), and, they say, he passed on to the French Resistance data on the movement of German troops. But, I think, all this was the background - Jacques-Yves was only interested in underwater shooting.

Cousteau finished editing his first film "18 meters under water" (its duration is exactly 18 minutes) on the day the Battle of Stalingrad ended, and on April 10, 1943, the premiere of the tape took place at the Chaillot National Theater in Paris. Naturally, it passed under the control of the fascist propaganda department. Pierre, Jacques-Yves' older brother and editor of a magazine that collaborated with the Germans, published a laudatory article about the film and later helped secure permission to shoot in the Mediterranean.

Inspired by Cousteau, he organized a film production company, the Shark Association, and shot another film on the film allocated by the Germans: The Remains of Sunken Ships. In the work on it, for the first time in the history of mankind, an aqualung was used - a device invented by Cousteau in collaboration with engineer Emile Gagnan.

Scuba testing began in 1943 and ended in 1948. How many times Jacques-Yves was on the verge of death! But, miraculously staying alive, he again rushed to the depths, confident: the ocean would submit to him.

Other inventions of Cousteau

In 1950, Cousteau bought an American minesweeper at the expense of investors. He refurbished it, named it "Calypso" in honor of the nymph who fell in love with the wanderer Odysseus, and organized the first underwater expedition. Jacques-Yves infected the whole family with his passion: Simone and both sons worked with him (the youngest, Philippe, crashed on a Catalina amphibious plane during filming in 1979).

Under water, Cousteau excelled in everything. It was he who invented waterproof lighting devices and cameras, the underwater television system; made the first underwater archaeological find and the first photographs at a depth of more than 7 kilometers ... His tapes - the famous series "Odyssey of the Cousteau team", "The World of Red Fish", "The World of Silence" and many others - were a wild success. They, like books, brought Jacques-Yves enormous popularity. Recognition of his scientific merits was the offer to take the post of director of the Oceanographic Museum in Monaco.

But Cousteau did not stop there. His 1960s experiments with bathyscaphes were like science fiction: people lived, ate and slept underwater, descending even deeper on the “diving saucers” developed by the Jacques-Yves team. But then the voices of skeptics were heard. The Aquanauts project was deemed useless and costly. It was closed. Cousteau proposed the idea of creating a network of oceanographic - research and conservation - parks, for which he founded the non-profit Cousteau Society. But this ambitious project failed. The society was accused of embezzlement and dishonest conduct of business, its accounts in the United States were arrested. After that, Cousteau had a bad relationship with his eldest son, Jean-Michel, who decided to use a high-profile surname to develop his personal business.

But after all the losses and blows, Cousteau remained stubborn and passionate. He continued to work: to invent strange and unusual research apparatus, to make films, to take part in projects related to the sea as an expert. And all this to the incessant choir of critics: Cousteau was denounced for unprofessionalism in underwater archeology, staged scenes, about cruelty to animals...

And he - worked and lived, enjoying every day. When his relationship with Simone turned from family to friendship, he fell in love with flight attendant Francine Triplet and became the father of two children. Cousteau formalized this marriage only after the death of Simone, at the age of 80.

Jacques-Yves Cousteau is an outstanding oceanographer and just a great person. During his long and eventful life, this outstanding researcher managed to do very, very much. He will be remembered by his descendants as a talented writer, director, as well as an outstanding scientist who revealed many secrets of the underwater world, thus making an invaluable contribution to world science.

Without it, our understanding of the world of the underwater depths would not be complete. After all, the scientific contribution of this outstanding Frenchman will always remain truly invaluable.

Early years, childhood and the family of Jacques-Yves Cousteau

The future famous oceanographer was born in the French town of Saint-Andre-de-Cubzac in the Bordeaux region, which has always been famous for its warm sun and rich grape harvests. His mother was a housewife most of her life, and his father, Daniel, worked as a lawyer.

On the paternal side, our today's hero has Belarusian roots. The father of the future oceanographer moved to France from Belarus. The uncle of the oceanographer lived all his life in the BSSR.

It is quite remarkable that the real name of the oceanographer, as well as his lesser-known father, is "Bus". Only after marrying the mother of Jacques-Yves, his father decided to remake the Belarusian surname and write it down in the French manner.

Returning to other aspects of the life of the Cousteau family, we note that the parents of the oceanographer were constantly traveling. They often traveled to other cities, went to the mountains or to the seashore. Perhaps it was this way of life that predetermined the character of our today's hero.

He was drawn to new discoveries and bright achievements. Having learned to swim early, Jacques-Yves Cousteau did not climb out of the water for days. Subsequently, it became an important part of his life.

After the First World War, Cousteau Sr. found a job in an American company, and therefore the whole family was forced to follow him. In the USA, Jacques-Yves learned English well, and also began to get involved in mechanics for the first time.

It was here during one of the trips to the sea that our today's hero made his first dives. The underwater world of the ocean so fascinated the young guy that later he simply could not imagine his life without the depths of the sea.

Why did Jacques If Cousteau convert to Islam?

After returning to France, Jacques-Yves Cousteau began to create technical samples and very soon managed to construct a battery-powered machine. This engineering success brought him some money, with which he bought his first movie camera.

During this period, he was interested in many things at once, as if still unable to find himself among many hobbies. He took small sketches, was engaged in the creation of sketches of various techniques, and also went swimming in the evenings. Absolutely indifferent, our today's hero was only related to training sessions.

Because of his low academic performance, they once even wanted to expel him from school. However, his father intervened in the matter, taking the guy from the classroom on his own. At the family council, it was decided that Jacques-Yves Cousteau would go to the army. This decision suited everyone, and therefore, very soon, the young guy submitted documents to the French Naval Academy.

In the early thirties, as part of the battle cruiser Jeanne d'Arc, our today's hero made a round-the-world trip across all the seas of our planet. This event played an important role in his fate. Jacques-Yves Cousteau got acquainted with various aspects of being at sea, and also comprehended the basics of shipbuilding and maritime navigation. Subsequently, the famous oceanographer sailed on many other ships.

The path of Jacques-Yves Cousteau in science: to the depths of the sea

In 1938, Jacques-Yves Cousteau began to often dive into the depths of the sea, using only a mask and fins. During this period, for the first time, he began to seriously study the underwater world and its inhabitants.

Odyssey by Jacques Cousteau

Realizing that the existing technologies are imperfect, already in the early forties, Jacques-Yves Cousteau, together with his friend Emile Gagnan, began to create a special apparatus for diving to the bottom of the ocean. From the very beginning, it was decided that the system would operate on the basis of compressed air, which would be located in special cylinders.

As a result, in 1943, the first prototype of an aqualung was created, which was subsequently improved and refined several times. Having finally received all the necessary equipment for the study of underwater depths, Jacques-Yves Cousteau began to engage in scientific activities.

He was engaged in writing books, shooting documentaries, as well as exploring the mysterious world of the deep ocean. Since 1950, our today's hero traveled exclusively on the legendary ship Calypso, which later became a real symbol of the science of oceanography.

In 1957, Jacques-Yves headed the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco, within which he began to study marine life. One of the most famous scientific discoveries of the oceanographer was the discovery of internal sonar in cetaceans. In 1973, our today's hero created a non-profit foundation for the protection of underwater inhabitants.

The Last Years of Jacques-Yves Cousteau

During his long life, the scientist created many amazing technical devices for exploring the depths of the sea. So, he is considered the author of waterproof lenses for video cameras, special submarines for the scientific study of underwater depths.

The research of Jacques-Yves Cousteau formed the basis of a series of documentaries, which were subsequently broadcast on many television channels around the world.

For his outstanding scientific research, our today's hero was consecrated to the Commander of the Order of the Legion of Honor, and was also awarded many other awards. After the death of the great explorer in 1997, he was solemnly buried in one of the cemeteries of his native town of Saint-André-de-Cubzac.

Personal life of Jacques-Yves Cousteau

Jacques-Yves Cousteau was married twice in his life. In marriage with his first wife Simone Melchior, two sons of a scientist were born. Both sons from the first marriage of our today's hero also subsequently connected their lives with science.

After the death of his first wife, Jacques-Yves remarried. His second wife was Francine Triplet, who even before the wedding gave birth to a scientist's daughter and son.

Jacques-Yves Cousteau(fr. Jacques-Yves Cousteau; June 11, 1910, Saint-Andre-de-Cubzac, Bordeaux, France - June 25, 1997, Paris, France) - the famous French explorer of the oceans, photographer, director, inventor, author of many books and films. He was a member of the French Academy. Commander of the Order of the Legion of Honor. Known as (fr. Commandant Cousteau).

Together with Emil Gagnan in 1943, he developed and tested a scuba gear.

Biography early years

Jacques-Yves Cousteau was born in the small town of Saint-André-de-Cubzac in the Bordeaux wine region, the son of a lawyer, Daniel and Elisabeth Cousteau. Daniel Cousteau was a lawyer and the family traveled extensively. The son became interested in water at an early age. At the age of 7, he began to suffer from chronic enteritis, so the family doctor did not recommend heavy loads. Due to illness, Cousteau became very thin. During the First World War, Daniel Cousteau became unemployed, but after the war he again found work in the company of the American Eugene Higgins. He had to travel a lot, the brothers Pierre-Antoine and Jacques-Yves went to school. For most of the year they lived in a boarding school. Cousteau learned to swim early and fell in love with the sea for the rest of his life. In 1920, Eugene Higgins returned to New York, the Cousteau family followed him. Jacques-Yves and Pierre-Antoine went to school in the United States and became fluent in English. There, during a family vacation in Vermont, the brothers made their first dives. In 1922 Higgins and the Cousteau family returned to France. In the US, Jacques-Yves became interested in mechanics and design. In France, he built a battery-powered car. This passion helped him in his work in the future. With the money saved and earned, Cousteau bought himself his first movie camera.

Although Jacques-Yves was interested in many things, study was not given to him. After some time, his parents decided to send him to a special boarding school, which he graduated with honors.

Army

In 1930 he entered the Brest Naval School. He was twenty-second, moreover, the group in which he studied was the first to sail around the world on the ship Joan of Arc. He graduated from the military academy with the rank of warrant officer, was sent to the naval base in Shanghai, and also visited the USSR, where he took a lot of pictures, but almost all the materials were seized. Cousteau decided to go to the Academy of Naval Aviation, he was attracted by the sky, but after a car accident on a mountain road, aviation had to be abandoned. Cousteau broke several ribs and fingers on his left hand, damaged his lungs, and paralyzed his right arm. The rehabilitation course took eight months. To restore in 1936, he entered the instructor on the cruiser "Sufren", assigned to the port of Toulon. One day he went to the store and saw diving goggles. Having dived into them, he realized that from now on his life undividedly belongs to the underwater kingdom.

* Cousteau's floating laboratory in tow off the Calypso, 1964

Stages

In 1937 he married Simone Melchior, who bore him two sons, Jean-Michel (1938) and Philippe (1940-1979, died in the Catalina plane crash). During World War II, he was a member of the French resistance movement.

From the early 1950s, Cousteau conducted oceanographic research with the help of the Calypso (a decommissioned minesweeper of the British Royal Navy). Recognition came to Cousteau with the release of the book "In the world of silence" in 1953, co-authored with Frederic Dumas. The film, based on the book, won the Oscar and the Palme d'Or in 1956.

In 1957, Cousteau was appointed director of the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco. In 1973 he founded the non-profit "Cousteau Society" for the protection of the marine environment.

In 1991, a year after his wife Simone's death from cancer, he married Francine Triplet. By that time, they already had a daughter, Diana (1979) and a son, Pierre (1981), born before marriage.

Cousteau died at the age of 87 from a myocardial infarction as a result of a complication of a respiratory disease. He was buried in the family plot in the Saint-André-de-Cubzac cemetery.

* Jacques-Yves Cousteau preparing to test a new scuba gear, 1965

Marine research

According to his first book, "In the World of Silence", Cousteau began diving using a mask, snorkel and fins with Frédéric Dumas and Philippe Taglier in 1938. In 1943, he tested the first prototype of an aqualung, developed by him together with Emile Gagnan. This made it possible for the first time to conduct long-term underwater research, which greatly contributed to the improvement of modern knowledge of the underwater world. Cousteau became the creator of waterproof cameras and lighting devices, and also invented the first underwater television system.

Biology

Before it became known about the ability of porpoises to echolocation, Cousteau suggested the possibility of its existence. In his first book, "In the World of Silence" he reported that his research vessel Elie Monier moving towards the Strait of Gibraltar and noticed a group of pigs following them. Cousteau changed the course of the vessel a few degrees from the optimum, and the pigs followed the ship for some time, and then swam to the center of the strait. It was obvious that they knew where the optimal course lay, even if the people didn't. Cousteau concluded that cetaceans had something like sonar, which at that time was a relatively new element in submarines. He turned out to be right.

Heritage

Cousteau liked to call himself an "oceanographic technician". He was, in fact, an outstanding showman, educator and nature lover. His work opened up the "blue continent" for many people.

His work also allowed for a new type of scientific communication criticized at the time by some academics. So-called "divulgationism", a simple way of exchanging scientific concepts, was soon used in other disciplines and became one of the most important characteristics of modern broadcasting.

In 1950, he rented the ship Calypso from Thomas Loel Guinness for a symbolic one franc a year. The ship was equipped with a mobile laboratory for open ocean research and underwater surveys.

Since 1957 he has been director of the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco.

In May 1985, the Cousteau team acquired another ship. This is a two-masted yacht "Alcyone" (Alcyone) with an experimental turbosail that uses the Magnus effect to obtain thrust.

Cousteau died on June 25, 1997. The Cousteau Society and its French partner, Team Cousteau, founded by Jacques-Yves Cousteau, are still active today.

In his last years, after his second marriage, Cousteau became involved in a legal battle with his son Jean-Michel over the use of the name Cousteau. By order of the court, Jean-Michel Cousteau was forbidden to confuse his professional business with his father's non-profit endeavors.

In St. Petersburg, school number 4 was named after Cousteau with in-depth study of the French language.

* Jacques-Yves Cousteau aboard the Calypso, 1979

Rumors about converting to Islam

Despite rumors originally published in a number of Islamic media, there is clear evidence that Cousteau never converted to Islam and was buried in a Christian rite in a Catholic cemetery. An official letter from the Cousteau Foundation states: “We are absolutely certain that Commander Cousteau did not become a Mohammedan and the rumors that swirl have no basis”.

Awards

Commander of the Order of the Legion of Honor
Knight Grand Cross of the National Order of Merit
Military Cross 1939-1945
Officer of the Order of Naval Merit
Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters

Selected bibliography

The Silent World (1953; with Frédéric Dumas).
The Living Sea (1963; with James Dagen).
World Without Sun (1965).
The Shark: Splendid Savage of the Sea (1970; with Philippe Cousteau).
La vie et la mort des Coraux (1971; with Philippe Diole).
Mighty monarch of the sea (1972; with Philippe Diole).
Dolphins (1975).
La vie au bout du monde (1979; with Yves Pakkale).
Jacques Cousteau's Amazon Journey (1984; with Mose Richards).
Jacques Cousteau: The Ocean World (1985)

Translations into Russian

Cousteau J.-I., Dumas F. In the world of silence. Abbr. per. from English. - M .: "Young Guard", 1957. - 221 p.
Cousteau J.-I., Dumas F., Dagen J. In the world of silence; Living sea. Per. from English. - M.: "Knowledge", 1966. - 462 p.
Cousteau J.-I. A world without the sun. Per. from French - L.: Gidrometeoizdat, 1967. - 96 p.
Cousteau J.-I. "Calypso" and corals. Per. from English. - M.: "Knowledge", 1974. - 63 p.
Cousteau J.-I., Cousteau F. So that there are no secrets in the sea. Underwater research J.-I. Cousteau. Per. from English. - M.: "Thought", 1974. - 191 p.
Cousteau J.-I. Life and death of corals. Per. from French - L.: Gidrometeoizdat, 1975. - 176 p.
Cousteau J.-I, Diole F. Sunken Treasures. Abbr. per. from French - M.: "Progress", 1975. - 206 p.
Cousteau J.-I., Dumas F. In the world of silence; Cousteau J.-I., Dagen J. Living Sea. Per. from English. - M.: "Thought", 1976. - 429 p.
Cousteau J.-I., Diole F. Mighty Lord of the Seas. Underwater research J.-I. Cousteau. Per. from English. - M.: "Thought", 1977. - 186 p.
Cousteau J.-I., Diole F. Essays on the inhabitants of the underwater world. Octopus and squid. Per. from English. - M.: "Knowledge", 1980. - 48 p.
Cousteau J.-I., Pakkale I. Surprises of the sea. Per. from French - L.: Gidrometeoizdat, 1982. - 302 p.
Cousteau J.-I., Pakkale I. Salmon, beavers, sea otters. Per. from French - L.: Gidrometeoizdat, 1983. - 285 p.
Cousteau J.-I., Pakkale I. Life at the edge of the earth. Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego, archipelago of the South Chilean Islands. Per. from French - L.: Gidrometeoizdat, 1984. - 302 p.
Cousteau J.-I., Pakkale I. In search of Atlantis. Per. from French; V. Shcherbakov. The Golden Hall of Poseidon. - M.: "Thought", 1986. - 319 p.
Cousteau J.-I., Cousteau F. Brilliant Pirate; Cousteau J.-I., Diole F. Mighty ruler. Per. from English. - M.: "Thought", 1996. - 350 p.
Cousteau J.-I., Dumas F. In the world of silence; Cousteau J.-I., Dagen J. Living Sea. Per. from English. - M .: "Armada", 1997. - 475 s (Reprint: Cousteau J.-I., Dumas F. In the world of silence; Cousteau J.-I., Dagen J. The Living Sea. Translated from English. - M .: "Armada-press", 2002. - 475 p.)
Cousteau J.-I., Cousteau F. So that there are no secrets in the sea; Cousteau J.-I., Diole F. Mighty Lord of the Seas. Per. from English. - M .: "Armada", 1997. - 410 s (Reprint: Cousteau J.-I., Cousteau F. So that there are no secrets in the sea; Cousteau J.-I., Diole F. Mighty lord of the seas. Per. from English - M .: "Armada-press", 2002. - 410 p.)
Cousteau J.-I. A world without the sun; Cousteau J.-I, Diole F. Sunken Treasures. Per. from French - M.: "Armada", 1998. - 362 p.
Cousteau J.-I., Dumas F. In the world of silence; Cousteau J.-I., Dagen J. Living Sea. Per. from English. - M.: "AST", "Astrel", 2003. - 527 p.
Cousteau J.-I., Cousteau F. Brilliant barbarian of the seas; Cousteau J.-I., Diole F. Mighty Lord of the Seas. Per. from English. L. Zhdanova, 2003. - 381 p.