LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Cousteau: Oceans
built 193 days ago
In 1943, after several experiments, Cousteau and Gagnan finally invented the demand regulator, solving the problem of equalizing air pressure in the lungs with the water pressure acting upon the diver's body. They attached the regulator to three cylinders of air. The complete set of equipment was called the "aqualung" and would enable divers to dive deeper for longer periods of time. Through this accomplishment, Cousteau and Gagnan had modernized scuba diving. Cousteau could now explore the depths of the ocean more freely. Eventually he would record and film what he saw below the ocean's surface and share his findings with both the scientific community and the general public.
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This is what Cousteau originally observed, and what the current exploration is reviewing. Unlike its effect on ocean reefs, El Niño left Red Sea marine life relatively intact because the sea is almost enclosed by land masses. That could eventually become a liability... because pollution from overdevelopment--if allowed to accrue--would have nowhere to go, Jaubert says.
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Cousteau contributed to the invention of a number of tools that advanced the field of oceanography. In 1943 he and the French engineer Émile Gagnan perfected the aqualung, a self-contained underwater breathing apparatus, or scuba, consisting of one or more compressed air tanks connected through a pressure-regulating valve to a face mask, enabling a diver to stay underwater for several hours; it became commercially available in 1946. His diving saucer, a two-person submarine that allowed researchers to move more quickly, was launched in 1959. Cousteau ... built many underwater cameras that could withstand pressure at great depths, and his Conshelf laboratories provided an environment in which scientists lived and worked underwater.
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The winner of numerous accolades and awards over the years, Cousteau is ... respected as a outspoken commentator on a range of environmental issues, particularly noted for his uncompromising stand on such matters as nuclear waste and oil pollution. He has also written numerous books based on his research and was until 1988 director of the Oceanic Museum of Monaco (a similar institution opened in Paris in 1989 failed to prosper and closed its doors two years later).
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Cousteau liked to call himself an "oceanographic technician." He was, in reality, a sophisticated showman, teacher, and lover of nature. His work permitted many people to explore the resources of the "blue continent"... called the oceans.
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