Editing Jacques Piccard

{{Short description|Swiss oceanographer and engineer (1922–2008)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}}
{{More citations needed|date=November 2008}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Jacques Piccard
| image              = Jacques Piccard (1979).jpg
| caption            = Piccard in 1979
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|1922|7|28|df=y}}
| birth_place        = [[Brussels]], Belgium
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|2008|11|1|1922|7|28|df=y}}
| death_place        = [[Cully, Switzerland|Cully]], Switzerland
| nationality        = Swiss
| footnotes          = 
| signature          = 
| father             = [[Auguste Piccard]]
| children           = [[Bertrand Piccard]] (son)
| relatives          = [[Jean Felix Piccard]] (uncle)
| module             = {{Infobox scientist
 |field             = 
 |work_institutions = 
 |alma_mater        = 
 |doctoral_advisor  = 
 |doctoral_students = 
 |known_for         = [[Bathyscaphe]]
 |author_abbrev_bot = 
 |author_abbrev_zoo = 
 |influences        = 
 |influenced        = 
 |prizes            = [[Hubbard Medal]] (2012)
 |child             = yes
}}
}}

'''Jacques Piccard''' (28 July 1922{{spaced ndash}}1 November 2008)<ref>{{cite news | title=Deep sea adventurer Jacques Piccard is dead | date=1 November 2008 | url=http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/news_digest/Deep_sea_adventurer_Jacques_Piccard_is_dead.html?siteSect=104&sid=9917799&cKey=1225554764000&ty=nd | archive-url=https://archive.today/20120526010836/http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/news_digest/Deep_sea_adventurer_Jacques_Piccard_is_dead.html?siteSect=104&sid=9917799&cKey=1225554764000&ty=nd | url-status=dead | archive-date=26 May 2012 | work=Swedishinfo.ch | access-date=1 November 2008 }}</ref> was a Swiss [[oceanographer]] and engineer, known for having developed underwater submarines for studying [[ocean current]]s. In the [[Challenger Deep]], he and Lieutenant [[Don Walsh]] of the [[United States Navy]] were the first people to explore the deepest known part of the world's [[ocean]], and the deepest known location on the surface of Earth's crust, the [[Mariana Trench]], located in the western [[North Pacific Ocean]].

==Family life==
Jacques Piccard was born in [[Brussels]], Belgium, the son of [[Auguste Piccard]], who was himself an adventurer and engineer. Jacques' father Auguste twice beat the record for reaching the highest altitude in a balloon, during 1931–1932.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2008-11-01 |title=Swiss explorer Jacques Piccard dies at 86 |url=https://www.france24.com/en/20081101-swiss-explorer-jacques-piccard-dies-86-exploration |access-date=2024-06-30 |website=France 24 |language=en}}</ref> The Piccard family thus had the unique distinction of breaking world records for both the highest flight and the deepest dive.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.answers.com/topic/jacques-piccard |title=The Most Trusted Place for Answering Life's Questions |publisher=Answers |access-date=17 October 2016}}</ref>
* [[Jules Piccard]] (professor of chemistry)
** [[Auguste Piccard]] (physicist, aeronaut, balloonist, hydronaut)
*** Jacques Piccard (hydronaut)
**** [[Bertrand Piccard]] (aeronaut, [[balloonist]])
** [[Jean Piccard|Jean Felix Piccard]] (organic chemist, aeronaut, and balloonist)
** [[Jeannette Piccard]] (wife of Jean Felix) (aeronaut and balloonist)
*** [[Don Piccard]] (balloonist)

Jacques's father, who had already set altitude records in his balloon, started using the buoyancy technique used in balloons for developing a [[submersible]] vehicle, the [[bathyscaphe]]. Jacques initially started out his career by teaching economics at University of Geneva while continuing to help his father improve the bathyscaphe to demonstrate its potential for operating in deep waters. During that period Piccard also completed a diploma at the [[Graduate Institute of International Studies]] in Geneva.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jacques Piccard {{!}} IHEID |url=https://www.graduateinstitute.ch/node/61206 |access-date=2023-12-24 |website=www.graduateinstitute.ch}}</ref> Together, Piccard and his father built three bathyscaphes between 1948 and 1955, which reached record depths of 4,600 feet and 10,000 feet (the last one was bought by the government). With this success, the younger Piccard abandoned economics to collaborate with his father on further improving the bathyscaphe and demonstrating its practicality for exploration and research and then they collaborated.

Jacques's son [[Bertrand Piccard]] is continuing his family traditions. He commanded the first non-stop balloon flight around the world in March 1999 and the first solar-powered plane flight around the world in December of 2009.<ref>{{Cite web |last=swissinfo.ch |first=S. W. I. |date=2008-11-01 |title=La mort de l'océanographe Jacques Piccard |url=https://www.swissinfo.ch/fre/sci-&-tech/la-mort-de-l-oc%C3%A9anographe-jacques-piccard/7012946 |access-date=2024-06-30 |website=SWI swissinfo.ch |language=fr-CH}}</ref>

==Challenger Deep mission==
[[File:Bathyscaphe Trieste Piccard-Walsh.jpg|thumb|[[Don Walsh]] (left) and Jacques Piccard (centre) in the ''[[Bathyscaphe Trieste]]'']]
Jacques sought financial help from the U.S. Navy, which at that time was exploring various ways of designing submarines for underwater research. Jacques was welcomed to the U.S. to demonstrate his bathyscaphe, now named the ''[[Bathyscaphe Trieste|Trieste]]''. Impressed by his designs, the [[U.S. Navy]] bought the vessel and hired Piccard as a consultant. Recognizing the strategic value of a workable submersible for submarine salvage and rescue, the Navy began testing the ''Trieste'' for greater depths.

With his ''Trieste'' able to reach depths of 24,000 feet, Piccard and his colleagues planned an even greater challenge:—a voyage to the bottom of the sea. On 23 January 1960, Piccard and Lt. [[Don Walsh]] reached the floor of the [[Mariana Trench]] located in the western North Pacific Ocean. The depth of the descent was measured at 10,916 meters (35,813 feet); later, more accurate, measurements during 1995 found the Mariana Trench to be slightly less deep at 10,911&nbsp;m (35,797&nbsp;ft). The descent took four hours.  The bathyscaphe carried no scientific equipment and no experiments were conducted; the mission's purpose was to prove that the depth could be reached. The descent progressed without incident until 30,000 feet, when the crew heard a loud crack. They continued the dive, however, finally touching down in "snuff-colored ooze" at 35,800 feet.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Goudet |first=Jean-Luc |title=Il y a 50 ans, Jacques Piccard au plus profond du monde |url=https://www.futura-sciences.com/planete/actualites/oceanographie-il-y-50-ans-jacques-piccard-plus-profond-monde-22335/ |access-date=2024-06-30 |website=Futura |language=fr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-01-23 |title=Il y a 60 ans, Jacques Piccard établissait son record de profondeur |url=https://www.rts.ch/info/sciences-tech/technologies/11037600-il-y-a-60-ans-jacques-piccard-etablissait-son-record-de-profondeur.html |access-date=2024-06-30 |website=rts.ch |language=fr}}</ref>

When they reached the featureless seabed, they saw a flat fish as well as a new type of shrimp. Marine biologists later disputed their observations, claiming that no fish could survive the 17,000 [[Pounds per square inch|psi]] pressure at such depths. Upon discovering cracks in the viewing windows, Piccard cut the voyage short. After only a 20-minute stay on the bottom, they began dumping ballast for their return to the surface, and the damaged vessel returned to its escort ships without incident in three hours and 15 minutes.

The historic dive received worldwide attention, and Piccard wrote an account of it, ''Seven Miles Down'', with [[Robert S. Dietz]], a renowned geologist who had helped plan the mission. A planned return expedition, however, never occurred. The ''Trieste'' was expensive to maintain and operate. It was incapable of collecting samples and could not take photographs and so had little scientific data to show for its voyages. 

[[File:ben franklin icon.gif|thumb|right|Grumman/Piccard PX-15 / Ben Franklin]]

==''Ben Franklin'' mission==
On 14 July 1969, just two days before the [[Apollo 11]] launch, the ''[[Ben Franklin (PX-15)|Ben Franklin]]'', also known as the Grumman/Piccard PX-15 mesoscaphe, was towed to the high-velocity center of the [[Gulf Stream]] off the coast of [[Palm Beach, Florida]]. Once on site, the ''Ben Franklin'' with its six-man, international crew descended to {{convert|1,000|ft}} off of Riviera Beach, Florida, and drifted {{convert|1,444|mi}} north with the current for more than four weeks, surfacing near [[Maine]].<ref>Piccard 1971</ref>

[[File:Franklin crew.jpg|thumb|left|Crew members of the ''Grumman/Piccard PX-15'' / ''Ben Franklin'']]

The crew consisted of Jacques Piccard as the mission leader; Erwin Aebersold, another Swiss, as Piccard's handpicked pilot and main assistant to Piccard and project engineer during the Franklin's design and construction. [[Grumman]] selected a Navy submariner named Don Kazimir to be captain. The U.S. Navy Oceanographic Office sent Frank Busby to conduct a bottom survey along the drift track over the [[Continental Shelf]] and the [[Royal Navy]] sent Ken Haigh, an acoustic specialist, who studied [[underwater acoustics]] and performed sonic experiments up and down the water column throughout the mission. The sixth man was Chet May from [[NASA]]. His specialty was "man working in space". [[Wernher von Braun]] learned about the ''Franklin'' mission, visited the submarine in Palm Beach, and considered the mission a kind of analogue to a prolonged mission in space, such as on the forthcoming [[Skylab]]. He appointed May as a NASA observer to accompany the mission and study the effects of prolonged isolation on the human crew.<ref name="livingandworking">Benson, Charles Dunlap and William David Compton. ''[https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4208/contents.htm Living and Working in Space: A History of Skylab]''. NASA publication SP-4208.</ref>{{rp|139–140}} 

Named for the [[Benjamin Franklin|American patriot and inventor]] who was one of the first to chart the [[Gulf Stream]], the {{convert|50|foot|adj=on}} ''Ben Franklin'' was built between 1966 and 1968 in Switzerland for Piccard and the [[Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation]]. It has been restored and now resides in the Vancouver Maritime Museum in Vancouver, Canada.

==Influence and distinctions==
[[File:Jacques Piccard by Erling Mandelmann.jpg|thumb|Jacques Piccard; in the foreground a model of the mesoscaphe Ben Franklin]]
Ambient artists Matt Ruhlmann and [[Celer (group)|Celer]] collaboratively released an album called ''Mesoscaphe'' in 2008, dedicated to the voyage of the ''Ben Franklin''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.spekk.net/catalog/mesoscaphe.html |title=Mesoscaphe |publisher=Spekk.net |access-date=17 October 2016}}</ref>

He was awarded the [[The Franklin Institute Awards|Howard N. Potts Medal]] in 1972.

In 1981, Piccard became a founding member of the [[World Cultural Council]].<ref>{{cite web | title = About Us | publisher = [[World Cultural Council]] | url = http://www.consejoculturalmundial.org/about-us/ | access-date = 8 November 2016}}</ref>

On 1 February 2008, Piccard was honored ''[[Doctor honoris causa]]'' at the Catholic University of Louvain (Louvain-la-Neuve).<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.uclouvain.be/122962.html | title =  Jacques Piccard, Docteur honoris causa 2008 | publisher =  Université Catholique de Louvain | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081203045028/http://www.uclouvain.be/122962.html | archive-date = 3 December 2008 }}</ref>

==Other activities==
Piccard was the founder of the Foundation for the Study and Protection of Seas and Lakes, based in [[Cully, Switzerland]].

{{Cite journal
| page = 10000000000
| last = Piccard
| first = J.
| date = 2 March 1965
| title = US Patent D200,506 for a Submarine
| location = Lausanne, Switzerland
| access-date = 1 November 2008
| url = https://patents.google.com/patent/USD200506
}}
* [[Auguste Piccard (PX-8)|Mésoscaphe ''Auguste Piccard'']], the world's first passenger submarine, built for the 1964 Swiss national exhibition
* [[Ben Franklin (PX-15)|''Ben Franklin'' (PX-15)]]
* [[F.-A. Forel (PX-28)|''F.-A. Forel'' (PX-28)]]
* ''PX-44''

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book |last= Piccard |first= Jacques |author2=Robert S. Dietz  |title= Seven Miles Down |url= https://archive.org/details/sevenmilesdownst0000picc |url-access= registration |publisher= [[G. P. Putnam's Sons|Putnam]] |year= 1961 |page=[https://archive.org/details/sevenmilesdownst0000picc/page/249 249]}}
* {{cite book  | last = Piccard  | first = Jacques  | title = The Sun Beneath the Sea  | publisher = [[Charles Scribner's Sons|Scribner]]  | year = 1971  | isbn = 0-684-31101-1  | page = [https://archive.org/details/sunbeneathsea00picc/page/405 405 pp]  | url-access = registration  | url = https://archive.org/details/sunbeneathsea00picc/page/405  }}

== See also ==
* [[Project Nekton]]
* [[List of people who descended to Challenger Deep]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Jacques Piccard}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050301212105/http://www.bertrandpiccard.com/eng/family3.php Page from Jacques' son Bertrand Piccard's website]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20020418105908/http://www.onr.navy.mil/focus/ocean/vessels/submersibles11.htm Official press release regarding Challenger Deep operation].
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160916210646/http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/FRANKLIN/HTML/ben_franklin.html The Ben Franklin - Grumman/Piccard PX-15].
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090118123851/http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/FRANKLIN/HTML/FSTSS/FSTSS_intro.html From Sea to Shining Sea: The Story of the Ben Franklin Gulf Stream Drift Mission].
* [http://www.legacy.com/timesonline-uk/Obituaries.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonID=119615457 Obituary in ''Times of London'']
* [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/jacques-piccard-oceanographer-and-pioneer-of-deepsea-exploration-992032.html Obituary] by [[Marcus Williamson]] in ''The Independent'', UK
*{{Cite archive|collection=PICCARD, Jacques|institution=[[Swiss National Sound Archives]]|collection-url=https://www.fonoteca.ch/fond/74992.011|location=Lugano}}

{{Founding members of the World Cultural Council}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Piccard, Jacques}}
[[Category:1922 births]]
[[Category:2008 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Swiss engineers]]
[[Category:20th-century Swiss inventors]]
[[Category:Swiss oceanographers]]
[[Category:Engineers from Brussels]]
[[Category:Howard N. Potts Medal recipients]]
[[Category:Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies alumni]]
[[Category:Founding members of the World Cultural Council]]
[[Category:Swiss expatriates in Belgium]]