Jacques Piccard

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Jacques Piccard (1979)
Don Walsh and Jacques Piccard
The Trieste before the record dive
The Trieste is loaded with ballast
Telegram to Krupp Essen about the successful use of the submarine

Jacques Piccard (born July 28, 1922 in Brussels , † November 1, 2008 in La Tour-de-Peilz ) was a Swiss oceanographer and one of the most important pioneers of deep sea research. He was a son of Auguste Piccard and the father of Bertrand Piccard .

Life

After studying economics and history, Jacques Piccard worked as an employee of his father Auguste Piccard in the design and construction of the deep-sea diving device ( Bathyscaph ) Trieste . The US Navy was very impressed by the submarine , financed test dives off the Italian island of Capri , then acquired the Trieste and employed Jacques Piccard as a scientific advisor. Shortly before the record dive, the Americans wanted to exchange him for one of their compatriots, which he was able to prevent.

On January 23, 1960, Piccard and the American naval lieutenant Don Walsh dived with the Trieste to the bottom of the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench . They reached a depth of 10,916 meters, the water pressure was around 1100  bar . Various reference works incorrectly state a depth of over 11,000 meters. The difference is due to the incorrect calibration of the depth gauge, which was carried out in fresh water . Thereupon he became world-famous through the press and the subject of great media interest. After discovering that currents are also present in the deep sea, he warned against the sinking of radioactive waste in the sea , as the currents sooner or later reach the surface.

In the following years Piccard developed the Auguste Piccard submersible, commissioned by the Swiss government . It was to be put into service as a tourist attraction on the occasion of the Swiss National Exhibition in Lausanne in 1964 on Lake Geneva . In carrying out the order, Piccard had to deal with various scientific experts. Although they had never entered a submarine, they mistrusted Piccard's concept as its designer was not a trained engineer. Ultimately, Piccard's plans were approved and the boat was able to start operating on time. It is the largest tourism submarine ever built and the largest non-military underwater vehicle. In 1964 it carried around 33,000 passengers to the bottom of Lake Geneva.

In 1969 he developed the Ben Franklin submarine to explore the Gulf Stream . Two days before the start of the Apollo 11 lunar landing mission , the boat set sail off the Florida coast near Palm Beach . Piccard led the crew of six international scientists as head of mission. At a depth of around 300 to 350 meters, the crew let themselves drift underwater in the Gulf Stream for four weeks. After a successful mission, the German rocket designer Wernher von Braun visited him and inspected the submarine. The NASA was very interested in the mission evaluations with regard to new technologies for space capsules as well as the psychological effects during such a long mission to the crew and their performance. The knowledge gained was incorporated into the Skylab missions and the space shuttle program.

In 1973 he called for the use of clean energy because of the negative effects of fossil fuels.

Also in the 1970s, Piccard developed the submarine FA Forel , with which the Swiss lakes were explored from 1978 to 2005. All of his submersible vehicles still exist today and some of them can be viewed as exhibits. Piccard worked intensively with the foundation he founded in Cully for the preservation and research of marine life. He took part in deep-sea expeditions well into old age, at the age of 82.

On his 85th birthday, he gave an interview to the Neue Zürcher Zeitung , in which he said that he would also have liked to become an astronaut . On February 1, 2008, he and his son Bertrand were made honorary doctorates from the Université catholique de Louvain .

Jacques Piccard died on November 1st, 2008 at the age of 86 in his house on Lake Geneva.

Phil Mundwiller , spokesman for Bertrand Piccard's Solar Impulse research project , emphasized that Jacques Piccard had designed every submarine he used to explore the oceans.

Others

Piccard also dived with compressed air diving equipment , but never deeper than 25 meters and only to clean the panes of the bathyscaphe.

The Swiss Piccard family

  • Jules Piccard (1840–1933), chemist, brother of Paul
    • his son Auguste Piccard (1884–1962), physicist; Stratospheric flights and deep sea diving attempts
      • his grandson Jacques Piccard (1922–2008), deep sea explorer; Deep sea diving attempts with Bathyscaphe Trieste
        • his great-grandson Bertrand Piccard (* 1958), psychiatrist; first non-stop circumnavigation of the world with a balloon and first circumnavigation of the world with a solar airplane
    • Augustes twin brother Jean-Felix Piccard (1884–1963), physicist; Stratospheric flights
    • his wife Jeannette Piccard (1895–1981), first woman in the stratosphere
  • Paul Piccard (1844–1929), engineer, brother of Jules

Publications

  • Log from the depths of the sea. Fischer Taschenbuch, Frankfurt 1983, ISBN 3-596-23513-8 .
  • Eleven thousand meters below sea level. Arena, Würzburg 1977, 1986, ISBN 3-401-03819-2 .
  • Brockhaus! Wonder of nature 2006 . Calendar. Brockhaus FA, Mannheim 2005. ISBN 3-7653-0247-3 .

literature

Web links

Commons : Jacques Piccard  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Who’s who
  2. ^ Microsoft Encarta
  3. ↑ a b c NZZ Folio 7/2007
  4. ↑ geosciences
  5. ↑ Helmut Stalder: Looking back: "Send 300 kilos of journalists!" In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung of July 10, 2017.
  6. ^ Dpa Lausanne / Hamburg: mourning for deep-sea researchers . In: Märkische Oderzeitung , November 3, 2008, p. 23.
  7. ↑ Antikbuch24
  8. ↑ a b “Truffle Pigs” - Episode 2: Jacques Piccard, deep sea researcher , Radio SRF
  9. ↑ what is what ( memento of the original from March 10, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.wasistwas.de
  10. ↑ orf.at
  11. ↑ sueddeutsche.de ( Memento from November 6, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  12. ↑ volksstimme.de  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.volksstimme.de  
personal data
SURNAME Piccard, Jacques
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss oceanographer and deep sea researcher
DATE OF BIRTH July 28, 1922
PLACE OF BIRTH Brussels
DATE OF DEATH November 1, 2008
Place of death La Tour-de-Peilz