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Jacques Piccard | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Piccard in 1979 | |
| Born | (1922-07-28)28 July 1922 Brussels, Belgium |
| Died | 1 November 2008(2008-11-01) (aged 86) Cully, Switzerland |
| Nationality | Swiss |
| Children | Bertrand Piccard (son) |
| Father | Auguste Piccard |
| Relatives | Jean Felix Piccard (uncle) |
| Known for | Bathyscaphe |
| Awards | Hubbard Medal (2012) |
Jacques Piccard (28 July 1922 – 1 November 2008)[1] was a Swissoceanographer and engineer, known for having developed underwater submarines for studyingocean currents. In theChallenger Deep, he and LieutenantDon Walsh of theUnited States Navy were the first people to explore the deepest known part of the world'socean, and the deepest known location on the surface of Earth's crust, theMariana Trench, located in the westernNorth Pacific Ocean.
Jacques Piccard was born inBrussels, Belgium, the son ofAuguste Piccard, who was himself an adventurer and engineer. Jacques' father Auguste twice beat the record for reaching the highest altitude in a balloon, during 1931–1932.[2] The Piccard family thus had the unique distinction of breaking world records for both the highest flight and the deepest dive.[3]
Jacques's father, who had already set altitude records in his balloon, started using the buoyancy technique used in balloons for developing asubmersible vehicle, thebathyscaphe. Jacques initially started out his career by teaching economics at University of Geneva while continuing to help his father improve the bathyscaphe to demonstrate its potential for operating in deep waters. During that period Piccard also completed a diploma at theGraduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva.[4] Together, Piccard and his father built three bathyscaphes between 1948 and 1955, which reached record depths of 4,600 feet and 10,000 feet (the last one was bought by the government). With this success, the younger Piccard abandoned economics to collaborate with his father on further improving the bathyscaphe and demonstrating its practicality for exploration and research and then they collaborated.
Jacques's sonBertrand Piccard is continuing his family traditions. He commanded the first non-stop balloon flight around the world in March 1999 and the first solar-powered plane flight around the world in December of 2009.[5]
Jacques sought financial help from the U.S. Navy, which at that time was exploring various ways of designing submarines for underwater research. Jacques was welcomed to the U.S. to demonstrate his bathyscaphe, now named theTrieste. Impressed by his designs, theU.S. Navy bought the vessel and hired Piccard as a consultant. Recognizing the strategic value of a workable submersible for submarine salvage and rescue, the Navy began testing theTrieste for greater depths.
With hisTrieste able to reach depths of 24,000 feet, Piccard and his colleagues planned an even greater challenge:—a voyage to the bottom of the sea. On 23 January 1960, Piccard and Lt.Don Walsh reached the floor of theMariana Trench located in the western North Pacific Ocean. The depth of the descent was measured at 10,916 meters (35,813 feet); later, more accurate, measurements during 1995 found the Mariana Trench to be slightly less deep at 10,911 m (35,797 ft). The descent took four hours. The bathyscaphe carried no scientific equipment and no experiments were conducted; the mission's purpose was to prove that the depth could be reached. The descent progressed without incident until 30,000 feet, when the crew heard a loud crack. They continued the dive, however, finally touching down in "snuff-colored ooze" at 35,800 feet.[6][7]
When they reached the featureless seabed, they saw a flat fish as well as a new type of shrimp. Marine biologists later disputed their observations, claiming that no fish could survive the 17,000psi pressure at such depths. Upon discovering cracks in the viewing windows, Piccard cut the voyage short. After only a 20-minute stay on the bottom, they began dumping ballast for their return to the surface, and the damaged vessel returned to its escort ships without incident in three hours and 15 minutes.
The historic dive received worldwide attention, and Piccard wrote an account of it,Seven Miles Down, withRobert S. Dietz, a renowned geologist who had helped plan the mission. A planned return expedition, however, never occurred. TheTrieste was expensive to maintain and operate. It was incapable of collecting samples and could not take photographs and so had little scientific data to show for its voyages.
On 14 July 1969, just two days before theApollo 11 launch, theBen Franklin, also known as the Grumman/Piccard PX-15 mesoscaphe, was towed to the high-velocity center of theGulf Stream off the coast ofPalm Beach, Florida. Once on site, theBen Franklin with its six-man, international crew descended to 1,000 feet (300 m) off of Riviera Beach, Florida, and drifted 1,444 miles (2,324 km) north with the current for more than four weeks, surfacing nearMaine.[8]
The crew consisted of Jacques Piccard as the mission leader; Erwin Aebersold, another Swiss, as Piccard's handpicked pilot and main assistant to Piccard and project engineer during the Franklin's design and construction.Grumman selected a Navy submariner named Don Kazimir to be captain. The U.S. Navy Oceanographic Office sent Frank Busby to conduct a bottom survey along the drift track over theContinental Shelf and theRoyal Navy sent Ken Haigh, an acoustic specialist, who studiedunderwater acoustics and performed sonic experiments up and down the water column throughout the mission. The sixth man was Chet May fromNASA. His specialty was "man working in space".Wernher von Braun learned about theFranklin mission, visited the submarine in Palm Beach, and considered the mission a kind of analogue to a prolonged mission in space, such as on the forthcomingSkylab. He appointed May as a NASA observer to accompany the mission and study the effects of prolonged isolation on the human crew.[9]: 139–140
Named for theAmerican patriot and inventor who was one of the first to chart theGulf Stream, the 50-foot (15 m)Ben Franklin was built between 1966 and 1968 in Switzerland for Piccard and theGrumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation. It has been restored and now resides in the Vancouver Maritime Museum in Vancouver, Canada.
Ambient artists Matt Ruhlmann andCeler collaboratively released an album calledMesoscaphe in 2008, dedicated to the voyage of theBen Franklin.[10]
He was awarded theHoward N. Potts Medal in 1972.
In 1981, Piccard became a founding member of theWorld Cultural Council.[11]
On 1 February 2008, Piccard was honoredDoctor honoris causa at the Catholic University of Louvain (Louvain-la-Neuve).[12]
Piccard was the founder of the Foundation for the Study and Protection of Seas and Lakes, based inCully, Switzerland.
Piccard, J. (2 March 1965)."US Patent D200,506 for a Submarine". Lausanne, Switzerland: 10000000000. Retrieved1 November 2008.{{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal= (help)
