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
About the great explorer

• 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.

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 schools
• 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
The Way of his Life

• 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.

When you dive, you begin to feel
that you are an angel
5

• 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.

• 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.

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

• 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.

• 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.

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
• Calypsos adventures drew the publics 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,

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.