Jacques Cousteau was a famous scientist his full name was Jacques-Yves Cousteau. Jacques was born in Saint-André-de-Cubzac, France on the eleventh of June 1997 and Cousteau died of a heart attack on June 25, 1997 in Paris, two weeks after his 87th birthday. Jacques was primarily an oceanographer, marine biologist and botanist. Jacques had a brother named Pierre-Antoine Cousteau Pierre was the younger of two children born to Daniel and Elizabeth Cousteau. At the young age of four Cousteau learned to swim and thus began his lifelong passion for water. At the age of thirteen Cousteau was sent to boarding school in Alsace, France, after finishing his studies there he attended the Collège Stanislas in Paris. In 1930 Cousteau entered the French Naval Academy in Brest, France. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay During World War II, when Paris fell to the Nazis, Jacques Cousteau and his family took refuge in a small town near the Swiss border which is called Megreve. In 1933 Jacques was involved in a serious car accident which almost took his life. During his recovery he began to swim every day in the Mediterranean Sea. A friend gave Cousteau a pair of swimming goggles that gave him access to the mysteries of the sea and this began his mission to understand the underwater world. I bet two things you didn't know about this scientist are that he originally wanted to fly and that Jaques had a secret family. Yes, a secret family. In 1937 Cousteau married Simone Melchior with whom he went on expeditions and even sold the family jewels to help buy fuel for the ship. A year after Simone's death from cancer, the surprising news came that he was having an affair with Francine Triplet, who was more than 30 years younger. Cousteau also announced that he had two children from the relationship and later married Triplet. Jacques is best known for his invention of diving devices and underwater devices such as the Aqua-Lung. The Aqua-Lung is the first invention of diving equipment. Without Jacques Cousteau the underwater world would still be a mystery today. Jacques once said: "The sea, once cast its spell, holds forever in its net of wonders." He also stated, "When a man, for whatever reason, has the opportunity to lead an extraordinary life, he has no right to keep it to himself." The Jacques Cousteau, Mullica River and Great Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve is the only reserve in the national system named for an individual.