Louis Boutan

Louis Marie-Auguste Boutan (born March 6, 1859 in Versailles , France , † April 6, 1934 in Tighzirt-sur-Mer , France) was a French biologist .

Professional background

Training as a biologist at the Natural Science University of Paris Member of the delegation of the French Ministry of Information for the World Exhibition in Melbourne Specializing in molluscs 1884 Studies at the marine biology station in Banyuls-sur-Mer 1886 Doctoral thesis Recherches sur l'anatomie et le développement de la fissurelle. Comparaison de la fissurelle avec les types voisins (“The anatomy and development of fissurella”). From 1886 to 1900 he did pioneering work in underwater photography . From 1904 to 1908 he stayed in Indochina. In 1909 he was lecturer at the natural science faculty in Bordeaux. From 1914 to 1918 he worked on the development of a diving device for the French Navy together with his brother Auguste. Director of the zoological station in Arachon. he was from 1921 to 1924. In 1924 Boutan was a fishery inspector in Algiers. In 1929 he retired.

Photographic career

In 1886 Louis Boutan learned to dive in Banyuls-sur-Mer. The desire arose to document the underwater world. In 1892 the first construction plans for the construction of a UW housing were made. In 1893 the first recordings were made from 3.5 m to 11 m depth. The exposure times were between 10 and 30 minutes, depending on the depth of the water.
1895 First attempts with an amphibious
camera failed. In 1899, Louis Boutan took his last UW photos using an arc lamp. This helped reduce the exposure times to 5 seconds.
In 1900 Louis Boutan published his book La Photographie sous-marine

The first camera, which he built into an underwater housing in 1892, was a 9x12 cm "Detective" plate camera that had a plate changing mechanism. A brass box served as the UW housing, each with a pane of glass in front of the camera lens and the viewfinder. The release and plate changer could be operated via rubber-sealed shaft ducts . An elastic balloon was used to equalize the pressure inside the brass housing. His brother Auguste made the construction plans based on his plans, and the Alvergniat company in Paris was responsible for manufacturing the case.

After the experiments with a magnesium flash system were not very satisfactory, Boutan constructed arc lamps for use underwater. He packed two arc lamps with 20 amperes each in cast iron spherical housings. The energy supply was secured by 60 batteries with 25 Ah each. The weight was 1.5 t.

The Boutan Rocks , a group of islands in the Antarctic , are named in his honor .

Works (selection)

• Mission scientifique permanente d'exploration en Indo-Chine. Décades zoologiques (=  Oiseaux ). FH Schneider, Hanoi 1905.
• Mission scientifique permanente d'exploration en Indo-Chine. Décades zoologiques (=  reptiles ). FH Schneider, Hanoi 1906.
• Mission scientifique permanente d'exploration en Indo-Chine. Décades zoologiques (=  Mammifères ). FH Schneider, Hanoi 1906.

Literature (selection)

• Franziska Brons: Medium under pressure. Louis Boutan's underwater photography . In: Photo History , Vol. 40 (2020), Issue 156, pp. 19–32.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives:
2. ↑ www.therebreathersite.nl
3. ↑ www.scribd.com
4. ↑ Pioneers of diving ( Memento from January 13, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
5. ↑ http://divemar.com/divermag/archives/dec96/gilbert1_dec96.html ( Memento from February 15, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) on divemar.com