Philosophy
What a family of adventurers and scientists. His father Auguste Piccard was a physicist and did work in ballooning. His son Bertrand achieved fame as a round-the-world balloonist. "The Piccard family has the unique distinction of having made both the highest flight and the deepest dive of all time." As a trivia note the captain of the fictional Star Trek: Next Generation Jean-Luc Picard was named from "...one or both of the twin brothers Auguste and Jean Felix Piccard..." by Gene Roddenberry the creator of Star Trek.
Jacques Piccard, a scientist and underwater explorer who plunged deeper beneath the ocean than any other man, died Saturday, his son’s company said. He was 86.
Mr. Piccard died at his Lake Geneva home in Switzerland, according to the company, Solar Impulse.
Exploration ran in the Piccard family. Mr. Piccard's father, Auguste, a physicist, was the first man to take a balloon into the stratosphere. His son, Bertrand, was the first man to fly a balloon nonstop around the world.
Jacques Piccard helped his father invent the bathyscaphe, a vessel that allows people to descend to great depths. On Jan. 23, 1960, he and Lt. Don Walsh of the United States Navy took the vessel, named the Trieste, into the Mariana Trench in the Pacific to a depth of 35,800 feet, nearly seven miles below sea level. It remains the deepest human dive ever.
"By far the most interesting find was the fish that came floating by our porthole," Mr. Piccard said. "We were astounded to find higher marine life forms down there at all."
Solar Impulse said the discovery of living organisms at such a depth played a crucial role in the prohibition of nuclear waste dumping in ocean trenches.
After the dive, Mr. Piccard continued to research the deep seas and worked for NASA.
He also built four mid-depth submarines, mesoscaphes, including the first tourist submarine. During the Swiss National Exhibition in 1964, he took 33,000 passengers into the depths of Lake Geneva.
Born in Brussels in 1922, Mr. Piccard was 9 when his father took his balloon into the stratosphere. He studied in Switzerland and worked as a university economics teacher, but abandoned teaching to help his father design the bathyscaphe.
Information about his survivors was not immediately available.
In April 1999, when Bertrand Piccard completed a round-the-world balloon trip with a Briton, Brian Jones, his team drew on Jacques’s experiences in the Gulf Stream to work out how best to use the jet stream to speed the balloon around the world.
They also made use of some of the ideas used by Auguste Piccard in his pioneering flights, including the notion of only partly inflating the balloon at takeoff to allow for the expansion of the gases at higher altitudes, and the use of an airtight capsule.
In a statement on Saturday, Bertrand Piccard said his father "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."
- Folk Physics
Let's test the intuitions today with one I gave to my first year seminar yesterday: You are sitting in the aisle seat of a jet awaiting take-off when the child next to you hands you his helium balloon. You hold it in your hand next to the aisle as...
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International Year of Biodiversity The tradition continues with Philippe Cousteau's daughter Alexandra. In July she will be involved in "Expedition: Blue Planet" where she and her crew will "...journey across North American to investigate global...
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Here is a short paper discussing Jules Verne's relationship with astronomy and astronomers. Abstract: Almost all the Voyages Extraordinaires written by Jules Verne refer to astronomy. In some of them, astronomy is even the leading theme. However,...
Philosophy
Deceased--Jacques Piccard
Lieutenant Don Walsh, United States Navy,
and
Jacques Piccard
in the bathyscaphe TRIESTE
Marianas Trench
1960
Jacques Piccard
July 28th 1922 to November 1st 2008
and
Jacques Piccard
in the bathyscaphe TRIESTE
Marianas Trench
1960
Jacques Piccard
July 28th 1922 to November 1st 2008
What a family of adventurers and scientists. His father Auguste Piccard was a physicist and did work in ballooning. His son Bertrand achieved fame as a round-the-world balloonist. "The Piccard family has the unique distinction of having made both the highest flight and the deepest dive of all time." As a trivia note the captain of the fictional Star Trek: Next Generation Jean-Luc Picard was named from "...one or both of the twin brothers Auguste and Jean Felix Piccard..." by Gene Roddenberry the creator of Star Trek.
"Jacques Piccard, Scientist Who Explored the Deep Seas, Dies at 86"
by
The Associated Press
November 2nd, 2008
The New York Times
by
The Associated Press
November 2nd, 2008
The New York Times
Jacques Piccard, a scientist and underwater explorer who plunged deeper beneath the ocean than any other man, died Saturday, his son’s company said. He was 86.
Mr. Piccard died at his Lake Geneva home in Switzerland, according to the company, Solar Impulse.
Exploration ran in the Piccard family. Mr. Piccard's father, Auguste, a physicist, was the first man to take a balloon into the stratosphere. His son, Bertrand, was the first man to fly a balloon nonstop around the world.
Jacques Piccard helped his father invent the bathyscaphe, a vessel that allows people to descend to great depths. On Jan. 23, 1960, he and Lt. Don Walsh of the United States Navy took the vessel, named the Trieste, into the Mariana Trench in the Pacific to a depth of 35,800 feet, nearly seven miles below sea level. It remains the deepest human dive ever.
"By far the most interesting find was the fish that came floating by our porthole," Mr. Piccard said. "We were astounded to find higher marine life forms down there at all."
Solar Impulse said the discovery of living organisms at such a depth played a crucial role in the prohibition of nuclear waste dumping in ocean trenches.
After the dive, Mr. Piccard continued to research the deep seas and worked for NASA.
He also built four mid-depth submarines, mesoscaphes, including the first tourist submarine. During the Swiss National Exhibition in 1964, he took 33,000 passengers into the depths of Lake Geneva.
Born in Brussels in 1922, Mr. Piccard was 9 when his father took his balloon into the stratosphere. He studied in Switzerland and worked as a university economics teacher, but abandoned teaching to help his father design the bathyscaphe.
Information about his survivors was not immediately available.
In April 1999, when Bertrand Piccard completed a round-the-world balloon trip with a Briton, Brian Jones, his team drew on Jacques’s experiences in the Gulf Stream to work out how best to use the jet stream to speed the balloon around the world.
They also made use of some of the ideas used by Auguste Piccard in his pioneering flights, including the notion of only partly inflating the balloon at takeoff to allow for the expansion of the gases at higher altitudes, and the use of an airtight capsule.
In a statement on Saturday, Bertrand Piccard said his father "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."
- Folk Physics
Let's test the intuitions today with one I gave to my first year seminar yesterday: You are sitting in the aisle seat of a jet awaiting take-off when the child next to you hands you his helium balloon. You hold it in your hand next to the aisle as...
- Deceased--gunnar Fischer
Gunnar Fischer November 18th, 1910 to June 11th, 2011 "Gunnar Fischer deceased" Legendary cinematographer Gunnar Fischer passed away Saturday June 11, at the age of 100. Gunnar Fischer shot twelve Bergman-films 1948-60 and his style had a significant...
- No 2...pencils--nicolas-jacques Conté
Nicolas-Jacques Conté August 4th, 1755 to December 6th, 1805 Nicolas-Jacques Conté was a "French inventor who devised a method of manufacturing pencil leads by mixing a finely powdered graphite with finely ground clay particles, baked, and used encased...
- Alexandra Cousteau...a Family Tradition...the Environment
International Year of Biodiversity The tradition continues with Philippe Cousteau's daughter Alexandra. In July she will be involved in "Expedition: Blue Planet" where she and her crew will "...journey across North American to investigate global...
- Verne...astronomy And Astronomers
Here is a short paper discussing Jules Verne's relationship with astronomy and astronomers. Abstract: Almost all the Voyages Extraordinaires written by Jules Verne refer to astronomy. In some of them, astronomy is even the leading theme. However,...