Stars Beneath the Sea: The Pioneers of Diving - Hardcover

Norton, Trevor

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 078670750X ISBN 13: 9780786707508

Publisher: Carroll & Graf Pub, 2000

Synopsis

A series of detailed portraits, this history of the art of diving recounts the eccentric exploits and sense-defying feats of the men who turned underwater adventure into modern science.

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews:

Lively, encapsulated histories of a dozen or so adventurers, scientists, and eccentrics who experimented to discover ways to plumb the depths of the ocean, written by British scientist Trevor (Marine Biology/Univ. of Liverpool).Nobody had ever gone skindiving before John Guy Gilpatric created the first diving mask out of an old pair of flying goggles. That was in the South of France late in the 1920s, but people had been upending bell jars to capture the air inside in order to dive--and breathe--since Aristotle. Later in the 20th century, the efforts to discover the secrets of the deep became more scientific. J.B.S. Haldane, who follows his distinguished father in Trevor's study, began as a demolitions expert, progressed to the serious study of blood chemistry in the water and in the sky, and finished by laying the foundations for human and population genetics. He probably deserves his own book. Each of these adventuresome, sometimes foolhardy men arrived at the bottom of the ocean by a different route--from a love of the sea, from a love of the air, from pure curiosity, or from the love of photography. Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea was seminal for most of them. Many tended to hurl themselves into the center of their experiments, some squashing themselves into leaky diving bells, others percolating their own blood for scientific ends. But what all Norton's subjects have in common is a battle against the pressure of deep water as they fought against the dark and the huge weight of an undersea atmosphere that tended to make eardrums perforate, bleed, and worse: "If the air supply was cut off," says Norton of some early divers who were over 150 feet down in primitive "hard hat" diving suits, "his entire body could be rammed up into the helmet, except for the soft bits which would shoot up the air hose." A seaworthy effort. (b&w photos, illustrations) -- Copyright © 2000 Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Publishers Weekly:

At the intersection of science and adventure, pioneers of deep-sea diving risked their lives to explore the ocean's depths. To honor them, British marine biologist Norton has constructed a delightful portrait gallery of 13 scientists, inventors, daredevils, eccentrics and archeologists. Henri Milne Edwards, a Belgian-born French zoologist, invented the portable diving bell in 1844 and explored the Mediterranean around Sicily, becoming the first marine biologist to describe living subtidal communities. William Beebe, a world traveler and naturalist who built the Bronx Zoo's aviary, observed sea creatures new to science by descending more than 3,000 feet in a bathysphere in the Bahamas. Among Norton's unsung heroes appear several profiles in courage: English zoologist/diver Jack Kitching had himself dumped in the icy north Atlantic in order to test the survival suit that he designed for downed pilots during WWII; scuba diver Fr?d?ric Dumas (a collaborator with Jacques Cousteau) fearlessly explored sunken ships; and geneticist J.B.S. Haldane used physiological research to help British soldiers in WWII escape from submarines. Norton writes with a light touch and a wonderful feel for his material. Illustrated with photos and drawings, his survey of lives changed by an obsession with the sea--and its depths--swims with serendipitous adventures, odd twists and dark moments. (June)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Carroll & Graf Pub
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 078670750X
• ISBN 13: 9780786707508
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 282