fbpx

KidsKonnect

Jacques Cousteau Facts & Worksheets

Jacques Cousteau was a French undersea explorer, naval officer, scientist, author, photographer, filmmaker, and an innovator who invented diving and scuba devices, including the Aqua-Lung.

Search for Worksheets

Worksheets /People /Explorers /Jacques Cousteau Facts & Worksheets

Premium
Jacques Cousteau Worksheets
Not ready to purchase a subscription? Click to download the free sample version   Download sample

Jacques Cousteau was a French undersea explorer, naval officer, scientist, author, photographer, filmmaker, and an innovator who invented diving and scuba devices, including the Aqua-Lung. He was also a researcher who studied the sea and all forms of life in water.

See the fact file below for more information on the Jacques Cousteau or alternatively, you can download our 23-page Jacques Cousteau worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

EARLY LIFE AND CAREER

  • Jacques-Yves Cousteau was born in Saint-André-de-Cubzac, France, on June 11, 1910.
  • Jacques-Yves Cousteau learned to swim when he was aged four.
  • He was born to Daniel Cousteau, who was an international lawyer, and Elizabeth Duranthon, who was the daughter of a wealthy local wine merchant and landowner.
  • Aged 10, Jacques moved with his family to New York, USA for two years, where he learned to speak English fluently and improved his swimming and snorkeling.
  • He finished his preparatory studies at the Collège Stanislas in Paris. He then entered the École Navale in 1930 where he graduated as a gunnery officer.
  • After graduation, Cousteau joined the French Navy’s information service. He brought his camera along and shot several rolls of film at exotic ports-o-call in the Indian and South Pacific oceans.
  • However, in 1933, a major automobile accident nearly took his life.
  • During his recovery, he took up swimming daily in the Mediterranean Sea. His friend named Philippe Tailliez gave Cousteau a pair of swimming goggles, which opened him to the mysteries of the sea and began his journey to understand the underwater world.
  • Cousteau got married to Simone Melchior in 1937.
  • The couple had two sons, Jean-Michel and Philippe.
  • Both sons, in time, would join their father in the adventures of the Calypso, an underwater world expedition.
  • Simone died in 1990 and in 1991 the senior Cousteau married Francine Triplet. They had a daughter Diane Cousteau (born 1980) and a son, Pierre-Yves Cousteau (born 1982).

FAMED EXPLORER AND INVENTING THE AQUA LUNG

  • When Paris fell to the Nazis in World War II, Cousteau and his family sought refuge in the small town of Megeve, near the Swiss border.
  • In 1943, he met a French engineer named Emile Gagnan who shared his passion for exploration.
  • Around this time, compressed air cylinders were invented and the two experimented with snorkel hoses and bodysuits, including a breathing apparatus.
  • Eventually, they developed the first aqua-lung device which allows divers to stay underwater for a long duration.
  • Cousteau was also instrumental in the improvement of a waterproof camera that could resist the high pressure of deep water.
  • Cousteau created two documentaries during this period, on underwater exploration, Par dix-huit mètres de fond (“18 Meters Deep”) and Épaves (“Shipwrecks”).
  • During the war, Cousteau entered the French Resistance movement. He was spying on Italian armed forces and documenting troop movements. Cousteau was awarded several medals, including the Legion of Honor from France for his resistance and efforts.
  • After the war, he worked with the French navy to clear undersea mines.
  • Between missions, he continued his underwater explorations conducting several tests and filming the underwater tours.

CALYPSO

  • Cousteau leased a one-time British minesweeper In 1950 and switched it into an oceanographic research vessel he called Calypso.
  • Calypso conveyed Cousteau, his wife Simone, and a research crew throughout the world to such places as Easter Island, Mexico, California, and the Antarctic Circle.

CONSHELF

  • At the beginning of 1960, Cousteau and his team experimented with underwater living by developing the Conshelf living stations. It was the first underwater habitat for humans that could house working oceanauts for weeks at a time.
  • Because of these experiments, Cousteau gave the world a better understanding of the ocean.

FILMS, BOOKS AND LATER LIFE

  • Jacques Cousteau produced films of ocean life and sunken ships that were shelters for fish and plant life. The 1955 film entitled The Silent World, and the 1964 film entitled World without Sun, are two of his most famous movies. The Silent World got an Oscar and the Cannes International Film Festival’s prestigious Palme d’Or award.
  • Cousteau additionally wrote numerous books such as The Silent World (1953), World without Sun (1965), and The Whale (1972).
  • Educating the world regarding ocean life was the focus for Cousteau. This focus was clear on the television series that aired from 1968 to 1975, The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau. Cousteau studied sharks, squid, dolphins, penguins, and countless other sea creatures and encouraged the viewing audience to learn with him.
  • In his later years, Cousteau stayed to learn about the sea and share his wisdom with the world. He started the Cousteau Society and turned out to be an active environmentalist.

DEATH

  • Calypso was accidentally rammed by a barge and sank in Singapore Harbor on January 8, 1996.
  • Cousteau attempted to raise money to build a new vessel, but he died unexpectedly of a heart attack in Paris on June 25, 1997, at the age of 87.
  • He was buried in the family vault in the village of his birth, Saint-André-de-Cubzac.

Jacques Cousteau Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about the Jacques Cousteau across 23 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use Jacques Cousteau worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about Jacques Cousteau who was a French undersea explorer, naval officer, scientist, author, photographer, filmmaker, and an innovator who invented diving and scuba devices, including the Aqua-Lung. He was also a researcher who studied the sea and all forms of life in water.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

  • Jacques Cousteau Facts
  • Jac-Quick acts
  • Brief Bio
  • Fast Facts
  • Cousteau Siblings
  • Career Life
  • Reason for Living
  • Underwater World
  • Scuba Gear
  • Choose A Topic
  • The Silent World

Link/cite this page

If you reference any of the content on this page on your own website, please use the code below to cite this page as the original source.

Link will appear as Jacques Cousteau Facts & Worksheets: https://kidskonnect.com - KidsKonnect, January 3, 2021

Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

Related Resources