History of Scuba Diving

Scuba, the word for the underwater sport that involves breathing through an air tank, is an acronym for self-contained underwater breathing apparatus. The origins date to the 1940s with the invention of the Aqua-Lung breathing device in France by engineer Emile Gagnan and underwater explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau, who imported the device to the United States.

Breathing Apparatus

Skin diving, also known as breath-hold diving, and snorkeling compel divers to return to the surface or stay within the range of their snorkel to breathe. The invention of a portable breathing unit allowed divers an opportunity to stay under water for prolonged periods without hoses to the surface.
While the first self-contained breathing unit was invented in 1878, diving was revolutionized with the invention of the Aqua-Lung in the 1940s by Cousteau and Gagnan. The two-tank oxygen and nitrogen system has two hoses to provide an oxygen mix to the diver and release exhaled gas into the water. Ted Eldred is credited with the single-hose design that is used today.

Diving Fins

Diving fins are important to moving easily under water while carrying scuba tanks and equipment. While swim fins have been used since the dawn of diving, design advances improved dramatically with the innovations of Owen Churchill and Louis de Corlieu in the 1930s.

Wetsuit Development

Wetsuits, synthetic body coverings that protect against underwater heat loss, were first used in the mid-1950s to allow divers longer time in the water. Early materials included neoprene, but as industrial plastics technology improved, suits were developed in the 1960s that incorporated layers of various synthetics. University of California at Berkeley physicist Hugh Bradner, Lauriston Marshall of the U.S. National Research Council Panel on Underwater Swimmers, and Willard Bascon of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography all played roles in the development of a workable diving suit.

Diving Associations

Early divers took training from members of the Navy's Underwater Demolition Team and from the California Scripps and New England Woods Hole oceanographic institutes. Counties in Florida and the Red Cross offered courses and certified divers, but dive clubs soon became important centers for training and certifications.
The National Association of Underwater Instructors (NAUI) was established in 1959 as a nonprofit organization to promote diving safety. Early participants included "Sea Hunt" TV actor Lloyd Bridges, Al Tillman and John C. Jones Jr. Captain Jacques-Yves Cousteau had a seat on the organization's first advisory board. Today, NAUI offers skin diving courses throughout the world.
The Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) also promotes diving safety. The voluntary organization provides courses, certifies instructors and hobbyists, and develops professional standards for scuba shops and resorts. PADI, established in 1966 in Illinois, partners today with the National Geographic Society and the Project AWARE Foundation to maintain and preserve aquatic environments.

Modern Development

Scuba diving participants today include sports enthusiasts, commercial divers using the breathing devices to recover materials from the ocean floor, and underwater archaeologists and historians. The National Parks Service supervises dozens of Submerged Resource Centers around the United States, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, where professional scuba divers can research underwater historic sites.