Q 01/05

What breathing apparatus did Jacques Cousteau co-invent, making modern scuba diving possible?

A) The rebreather

B) The Aqua-Lung

C) The diving bell

D) The bathysphere

Answer · why

B) The Aqua-Lung

It was the first successful open-circuit self-contained underwater breathing apparatus.

Q 02/05

Cousteau was an officer in which armed service before he became a full-time oceanographer?

A) The French Air Force

B) The French Army

C) The French Navy

D) The Foreign Legion

Answer · why

C) The French Navy

He graduated from the Ecole navale as a gunnery officer in 1930 and left the Navy in 1949.

Q 03/05

With which engineer did Cousteau develop his breathing apparatus in the winter of 1942-43?

A) Emile Gagnan

B) Auguste Denayrouze

C) Yves le Prieur

D) Louis Malle

Answer · why

A) Emile Gagnan

Gagnan's demand regulator was the key improvement; the prototypes were made by Air Liquide.

Q 04/05

What accident ended Cousteau's planned career as a naval pilot?

A) A car crash that broke both his arms

B) A parachute that failed to open

C) A skiing fall that broke his back

D) A shipboard boiler explosion

Answer · why

A) A car crash that broke both his arms

Forced to change plans, he 'indulged his passion for the ocean' instead.

Q 05/05

Which friend lent Cousteau his first pair of underwater goggles in 1936?

A) Philippe Tailliez

B) Emile Gagnan

C) Marcel Ichac

D) Frederic Dumas

Answer · why

A) Philippe Tailliez

They were Fernez goggles, predecessors of modern swimming goggles; Cousteau was serving on the Condorcet in Toulon.