Jacques Cousteau: 30 years as head of Monaco’s Oceanographic Museum

Famous explorer, filmmaker and inventor Jacques-Yves Cousteau led Monaco’s Oceanographic Museum from 1957 to 1988.

Born in 1910 in Gironde (France), Jacques-Yves Cousteau began his underwater research in 1945. On board the Calypso, a former minesweeper transformed into an oceanographic research vessel, and then the Alcyone, he explored the seas with his crew from 1951 onwards. His film The Silent World won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Festival in 1956 and the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature in 1957. Through his 70 films for television and 50 books, he raised public awareness of the beauty of the oceans as well as the threats they faced.

Jacques Cousteau was also a member of the American Academy of Sciences, and in 1977 was awarded the United Nations International Environment Prize. In 1990, he launched a global petition to safeguard Antarctica from mining. In 1992, he was an official guest at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro. He passed away in 1997, at the age of 87.

A constant innovator, the explorer also invented the aqualung, diving saucers, “houses under the sea” and a new wind propulsion system, the Turbosail. His vessel Amphitrite, a giant semi-rigid, was christened by Princess Grace in 1960.

“To enlarge the human perspective, to build on knowledge for future generations, to identify dangers, and to chart the course to a better world: if these are the goals of the explorer, then everyone – voyager, scientist and citizen, parent and child – is engaged in humanity’s momentous expedition.”

Jacques-Yves Cousteau.