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Philadelphia Committee
Philadelphia committee led by Benjamin Franklin attempts to regulate waste disposal and water pollution. -
Johan Patrik Ljungström
Demonstrated his diving bell built of tinned copper with space for a crew of 2-3 persons, equipped with a compass and methods of communication to the surface, successfully diving down to about 16 meters with Ljungström and an assistant on board, and wrote a book on the organization of private underwater diving. -
Charles Condert
Built an autonomous diving suit, using a copper pipe curved in the form of a horseshoe, displacing about 50 pounds of water, and worn at the waist, as an air reservoir that fed compressed air through a manually operated valve and a hose into an airtight rubberized hip-length tunic with integral hood. -
Dr. Manuel Théodore Guillaumet
He invented a twin-hose demand regulator. On 19 June 1838, in London, England, Mr. William Edward Newton filed a patent (no. 7695: "Diving apparatus") for a diaphragm-actuated, twin-hose demand valve for divers. -
Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau publishes Walden -
Ecology
The term ecology is coined in German as Oekologie by Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel -
Acid Rain
The term acid rain is coined by Robert Angus Smith in the book Air and Rain -
Smog
The term smog is coined by Henry Antoine Des Voeux in a London meeting to express concern over air pollution -
National Parks
US Congress created the National Park Service -
Fernez-Le Prieur
Self-contained underwater breathing apparatus was demonstrated to the public in Paris and adopted by the French Navy. -
Cousteau and Gagnan
With no relation with the Commeinhes family, Émile Gagnan obtained a Rouquayrol-Denayrouze apparatus in Paris. He miniaturized and adapted it to gas generators since the Germans occupy France and confiscated the French fuel for war purposes. Gagnan's boss and owner of the Air Liquide company decided to introduce Gagnan to Jacques-Yves Cousteau, his son-in-law They met in Paris in December 1942 and adapted Gagnan's regulator to a diving cylinder. -
The First Modern Demand Regulator
After fixing some technical problems, Cousteau and Gagnan patented the first modern demand regulator. Air Liquide built two more aqualungs: these three are owned by Cousteau but also at the disposal of his first two diving companions Frédéric Dumas and Taillez. They use them to shoot the film Épaves (Shipwrecks), the first underwater film shot using scuba sets. -
National Geographic Magazine
They published an article about Cousteau's underwater archaeology at Grand Congloué island near Marseille. This started a massive public demand for aqualungs and diving gear, and in France and America, the diving gear makers started making them as fast as they could. -
USS Nautilus
The first nuclear-powered submarine was launched. The first manned dives in the bathyscaphe FNRS-2 were made. The first scuba certification course in the USA was offered by the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation. The training program was created by Albert Tillman and Bev Morgan and is now known as LA County Scuba -
Silent Spring
Rachel Carson publishes Silent Spring -
Earthrise
The Apollo 8 picture of Earthrise -
The Electrolung
The first known rebreather with electronic monitoring was produced. The Electrolung, designed by Walter Starke, was subsequently bought by Beckman Instruments but discontinued in 1970 after a number of fatalities. -
First Earth Day
April 22. Millions of people gather in the United States for the first Earth Day. US Environmental Protection Agency established -
Montreal Protocol
Montreal Protocol on substances that deplete the ozone layer entered into force -
The Kyoto Protocol
The Kyoto Protocol was negotiated in Kyoto, Japan in December. Countries commit to reduce their emissions of carbon dioxide -
Rejects Protocol
U.S. rejects the Kyoto Protocol -
James Cameron
James Cameron piloted the Deepsea Challenger 10,898.4 meters (35,756 feet) to the bottom of the Challenger Deep, the deepest known point in the ocean. -
Paris Agreement
U.S. announces it will cease participation in the Paris Agreement on climate change mitigation -
Rejoin the Paris Agreement
U.S. announces it will rejoin the Paris Agreement on climate change mitigation