Jacques-Yves Cousteau was born in Saint-Andre-se Dubzaac on June 11. In Cousteau's child hood and Teenage years, he became very interested in a mixture of water and machines. Cousteau began to build little gadgets out of parts he found around his home. With these interests, Jacques was also interested in films. .
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In school, Cousteau exceeded expectations, became bored and began to cause trouble. Jacques was sent away by his parents to a strict boarding school, where he excelled in environmental sciences, after high school, he entered l"ecole Navale in Brest, France. In 1933 Cousteau entered the French Navy, and became a gunnery officer. Underwater exploration deeply fascinated him, as he would watch people go underwater in huge 300-400 pound suits, that nearly caused the person wearing them to collapse. Cousteau thought that there could be an easier way to swim underwater with oxygen, and with protection from the harshly cold water. Cousteau than made his biggest contribution in most peoples minds by developing the SCUBA gear. (Self-contained under-water breathing apparatus). .
In 1937, Cousteau was married to Simone Melchoir. The had two sons, Jean Michel, and Phillipe. During WWII Cousteau worked as a spy, where he was awarded many medals. Despite his military work, Cousteau was still able to perfect his aqua lung. This device allowed divers to stay under water for hours at a time. This device was very useful after WWII, was it was used by divers as they located underwater mines. .
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In 1950, Cousteau became the head of the National Oceanographic campaign. That very year, Cousteau also purchased the Calypso to continue his research. Cousteau pulished many books, and made many films in order to fund his explorations. His films are "The Silent World" (1956), and "The World without Sun" (1966). Both of these were Academy Award winning films. His books include his most famous one, "The Living Sea," (1963), "Dolphins" (1975), and "Jacques Cousteau: The Ocean World" (1985).
