Jacques Piccard obit

Swiss-based marine explorer and inventor Jacques Piccard, who was part of the deepest submarine dive in history, has died at his home aged 86.

In 1960, Piccard and US co-pilot Don Walsh took a submersible developed by his father to the bottom of the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific.

They went 11km (seven miles) beneath the surface of the sea.

Their discovery of living organisms at that depth led to a ban on the dumping of nuclear waste in ocean trenches.

Posted by David on November 2, 2008 10:19 AM