Jacques Cousteau
Jacques-Yves Cousteau, a man who taught an era of people about the wonders of the sea depths. He used his eighty-seven years of life to teach the world as much as he could about the wonders that hid in the water. He invented the aqua-lung to make adventures into the deep easier and easy to use for people who have never done such a thing. He was interested in the ocean at a young age, and working in the Navy only furthered his love for the water.
Jacques Cousteau's teachings and discoveries of the sea depths influenced thousands to try and follow in his footsteps. Cousteau showed everyday people the wonders of the water and how pollution would slowly ruin all of these phenomenons. He started the Cousteau Society for the Protection of Ocean Life, which now has more than three hundred thousand members. Cousteau made nearly one hundred and twenty documentaries about the ocean and had a television show that aired weekly. These documentaries and television shows not only showed people what lived in the waters, they also raised awareness of the many problems that our marine environments face due to human intrusion. His influence on people was really expressed in October of 1960, when a large amount a radioactive waste was going to be dumped into a sea. Cousteau displayed his outrage about what was going to happen publicly. To his surprise, thousands of men, women, and children, risked their lives by standing on the train tracks in order to stop the train that was carrying the waste. The disaster was averted due to Jacques influence on people.
