Jacques Piccard Passed Away at 86

The Switzerland-based underwater explorer and scientist who still holds the world record for the deepest dive passed away on Saturday at his residence near Lake Geneva, at the age of 86, as stated in an official release of his son's company, Solar Impulse. He worked for NASA after he performed the dive in the Mariana Trench, enriching the knowledge on the ocean underwater ecosystems. He was the co-inventor of the bathyscaphe, an underwater transportation craft that allows diving at unprecedented depths.

This exploration-related feature was part of his family for generations, shared by his father and his son alike, and constantly demonstrated by their performances and deeds. His father, Auguste, was a physicist who went into the stratosphere with a balloon for the first time in history. Jacques quit his job as a university Economics teacher in order to help his father build the bathyscaphe, an invention that would eventually carry him and Lt. Don Walsh of the United States Navy to a depth of 35,800 feet (almost 7 miles or 11 km) in the Mariana Trench on January 23^rd 1960.

 

“By far the most interesting find was the fish that came floating by our porthole,” shared Mr. Piccard at the time. “We were astounded to find higher marine life forms down there at all.” According to his son's company, the presence of living organisms at such depths proved crucial to prohibiting the dumping of nuclear waste in the trenches of the ocean.

 

Nine years ago, his son, Bertrand, following Auguste's example, also used a balloon for a trip around the world, based on Jacques' knowledge of the jet stream. Related to his father, Bertrand declared in the statement posted on Saturday that he “passed on to me a sense of curiosity, a desire to mistrust dogmas and common assumptions, a belief in free will, and confidence in the face of the unknown”.