[ home port | lectures | labs | surf | email profs. ]
In class you will watch a videotape of the A&E Biography series' profile of Jacques Cousteau. His story is NOT what you would expect. Yes, there are the well-known details:
"1910-1997. Naval officer and underwater explorer, born in Saint-Andre, SW
France. He invented the aqualung diving apparatus or SCUBA (1943) and
a process of underwater television. In 1945 he founded the French Navy's
Undersea Research Group, and commanded the research ship Calypso in
1950. He became director of the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco in 1957.
He wrote widely on his subject, and his films included the Oscar-winning
The Golden Fish (1960)."
-- Biography.com
"When Cousteau and his teams embarked 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 negligence. Cousteau, through his life and his work, was
a major player in the environmental movement.... [Already a member of the U.S. Academy of Sciences] .. in 1977, the United Nations awarded him the
International Environmental Prize. He received the US Presidential Medal
of Freedom in 1985. Then, in 1988, he was inscribed in the UN Environmental
Programme's Global 500 Roll of Honor of Environmental Protection and
received the National Geographic Society's Centennial Award. "
-- Cousteau.org
Jacques Cousteau inspired generations of future oceanographic scientists and environmental activists. One of his famous quotes is: "A lot of people attack the sea, I make love to it." Another is: "People protect what they love." His son, Jean-Michel Cousteau, carries on his legacy, although under the auspices of his own organization, Ocean Futures (www.oceanfutures.org).
BUT, come to class, view the video, and see the OTHER side of the story! "Much like the sea itself, there was another Jacques Cousteau hidden beneath the service." Sometimes we can learn as much from the personal story of a scientist or explorer, as we can from their scientific contributions and discoveries.
http://dusk.geo.orst.edu/oceans/cousteau.html