Outline of underwater diving

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The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to underwater diving:

Two divers wearing lightweight demand helmets stand back-to-back on an underwater platform holding on to the railings. The photo also shows the support vessel above the surface in the background.
Surface-supplied divers riding a stage to the underwater workplace

Underwater diving – as a human activity, is the practice of descending below the water's surface to interact with the environment.


Contents

What type of thing is underwater diving?[edit]

Underwater diving can be described as all of the following:

  • A human activity – intentional, purposive, conscious and subjectively meaningful sequence of actions. Underwater diving is practiced as part of an occupation, or for recreation, where the practitioner submerges below the surface of the water or other liquid for a period which may range between seconds to the order of a day at a time, either exposed to the ambient pressure or isolated by a pressure resistant suit, to interact with the underwater environment for pleasure, competitive sport, or as a means to reach a work site for profit or in the pursuit of knowledge, and may use no equipment at all, or a wide range of equipment which may include breathing apparatus, environmental protective clothing, aids to vision, communication, propulsion, maneuverability, buoyancy and safety equipment, and tools for the task at hand.

Diving activity, by type[edit]

Modes of underwater diving[edit]

Surface-supplied diver with helmet, bailout set and umbilcal cable

There are several modes of diving distinguished by the equipment and procedures used:

  • Freediving – Underwater diving without breathing apparatus
  • Scuba diving – Diving while breathing from self-contained underwater breathing apparatus
  • Surface-supplied diving – Underwater diving breathing gas supplied from the surface
  • Saturation diving – Diving for periods long enough to bring all tissues into equilibrium with the partial pressures of the inert components of the breathing gas
  • Atmospheric pressure diving – Diving where the diver is isolated from the ambient pressure by an articulated pressure resistant diving suit.
  • Unmanned diving – Diving by mechanisms under the direct or indirect control of remote human operators for observation, data collection or manipulation of the environment using on-board actuator devices

Diving procedures[edit]

Technical divers at a midwater decompression stop
Divers decompressing in the water at the end of a dive
Divers doing a buddy check
Sidemount diver pushing a cylinder in front
Solo diver surveying dive site. The bailout cylinder can be seen slung at the diver's left side

Diving procedures – Standardised methods of doing things that are known to work effectively and acceptably safely

Underwater diving, by environment[edit]

Ice Diving - View from the top

Underwater diving environment – The underwater environment to which a diver may be exposed

  • Open-water diving – Diving in unrestricted water and in water when the diver has unrestricted vertical access to the surface
  • Altitude diving – Underwater diving at altitudes above 300 m
  • Cave diving – Underwater diving in water-filled caves
  • Deep diving – Underwater diving to a depth beyond the norm accepted by the associated community
  • Ice diving – Underwater diving under ice
  • Muck diving – Recreational diving on a loose sedimentary bottom
  • Night diving – Underwater diving during the hours of darkness
  • Recreational dive sites – Specific places that recreational divers go to enjoy the underwater environment or are used for training purposes
  • Wreck diving – Recreational diving on wrecks

Occupational diving[edit]

Diver wearing a diving helmet is welding a repair patch on a submarine
Underwater welding.
NAUI Nitrox diver certification card
Pearl diver in Japan
Nesconset fire department scuba rescue team on training exercise
Salvaging a ship's propeller
Diver wearing a diving helmet is sanding a repair patch on a submarine
A diver at work on hull maintenance
Sponge diver putting on his diving suit in Tarpon Springs, Florida.

Professional diving, also known as Occupational diving – Underwater diving where divers are paid for their work

Recreational diving[edit]

Diver returning from a 600 ft (183 m) technical dive
Two underwater hockey players competing for the puck
Underwater photograper
Divers on the wreck of the Zenobia

Recreational diving – Diving for the purpose of leisure and enjoyment, usually when using scuba equipment

Diving and support equipment, tools and weapons[edit]

Small high-pressure breathing air compressor
A small scuba filling and blending station supplied by a compressor and storage bank
Hydrospace Explorer Trimix and rebreather dive computer. Suunto Mosquito with aftermarket strap and iDive DAN recreational dive computers
Three representative wrist-mount dive computers
International code flag Alpha indicates that a diver is underwater nearby
A closed bell used for saturation diving
Lifting bag used to move a heavy object underwater
The Newtsuit atmospheric diving suit
US Navy Diver using Kirby Morgan 37 diving helmet
Helmeted diver entering the water. He has a back mounted Draeger DM40 rebreather system in addition to the surface supply air hose
Scuba diver with bifocal lenses in half mask
A diver wearing an Ocean Reef full face mask
U.S. Navy divers in dry suits prepare to dive
Two men operating a rotary diver's air pump

Diving equipment[edit]

Diving equipment – Equipment used to facilitate underwater diving

  • Autonomous underwater vehicle – Unmanned underwater vehicle with autonomous guidance system
  • Breathing gas – Gas used for human respiration
  • Buoyancy control device – Diving equipment for controlling buoyancy by volume adjustment
  • Decompression equipment – Equipment used by divers to facilitate decompression
  • Dive light – Light used underwater by a diver
  • Diver propulsion vehicle – Powered device for diver mobility and range extension
  • Diving bell – Chamber for transporting divers vertically through the water
  • Diving mask – Watertight air-filled face cover with view-ports for improving underwater vision
  • Diving safety equipment – Equipment carried or worn by a diver or provided by the dive team to reduce risk or mitigate incidents
  • Diving suit – Garment or device designed to protect a diver from the underwater environment
    • Atmospheric diving suit – Articulated pressure resistant anthropomorphic housing for an underwater diver
    • Dry suit – Watertight clothing that seals the wearer from cold and hazardous liquids
    • Hot water suit – A wetsuit with a supply of heated water to keep a diver warm
    • Rash vest – Stretch garment for protection from abrasion, UV and stings
    • Wetsuit – Garment for water activities, providing thermal insulation but not designed to prevent water entering
    • Standard diving dress – Rubberised canvas diving suit with copper helmet and weighted boots
  • Diving weighting system – Ballast carried by underwater divers to counteract buoyancy
    • Weight belt – A ballasted waist belt worn by a diver
    • Diving weight – Ballast carried by a diver to counteract buoyancy or adjust trim
  • Remotely operated underwater vehicle – A tethered underwater mobile device operated by a remote crew
  • Snorkeling – Swimming while breathing through a snorkel represented by Snorkeling#Snorkel – Short curved tube used for face-down breathing at the surface
  • Swimfin – Finlike accessories worn on the feet, used for swimming, snorkeling and diving propulsion
    • Monofin – Single blade swimfin attached to both feet
  • Towboard – Underwater survey equipment used to tow a diver
  • Underwater breathing apparatus – Equipment which provides breathing gas to an underwater diver
    • Scuba set – Self contained underwater breathing apparatus
      • Diving cylinder – High pressure compressed gas cylinder used to store and supply breathing gas for diving
      • Diving regulator – Mechanism that reduces pressure of a gas supply and provides it to the diver at ambient pressure
      • Rebreather – Apparatus to recycle breathing gas
    • Surface-supplied diving equipment – Equipment used specifically for surface supplied diving
      • Diving helmet – Rigid head enclosure with breathing gas supply worn for underwater diving
      • Diver's umbilical – A hose and cable bundle which supplies breathing gas, communications and other services to a diver

Autonomous underwater vehicles[edit]

Autonomous underwater vehicle – Unmanned underwater vehicle with autonomous guidance system

  • Autonomous Robotics Ltd – UK company developing an autonomous underwater vehicle
  • AUV-150 – An unmanned underwater vehicle in development in by Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute
  • AUV Abyss – An autonomous underwater vehicle for mapping of the seabed and water column data collection
  • Boaty McBoatface – Autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) for scientific research to be carried on the RRS Sir David Attenborough
  • DeepC – Autonomous underwater vehicle powered by a fuel cell
  • DEPTHX – Autonomous underwater vehicle for exploring sinkholes in Mexico
  • Echo Ranger – A marine autonomous underwater vehicle built by Boeing
  • Eelume – Autonomous underwater vehicle being developed by Eelume AS
  • Explorer AUV – Autonomous underwater vehicle from People's Republic of China
  • Intelligent Water class AUV – Autonomous underwater vehicle for the People's Liberation Army Navy
  • Intervention AUV – Type of autonomous underwater vehicle capable of autonomous interventions
  • iRobot Seaglider – Deep diving autonomous underwater vehicle for long term missions
  • Maya AUV India – Autonomous underwater vehicle from National Institute of Oceanography, India
  • Nereus (underwater vehicle) – Hybrid remotely operated or autonomous underwater vehicle
  • REMUS (AUV) – Autonomous underwater vehicle series
  • Sentry (AUV) – Autonomous underwater vehicle made by Woods Hole Oceanographic institution
  • Spindle (vehicle) – Ice penetrating two-stage autonomous underwater vehicle
  • SPURV – Self propelled underwater research vehicle built in 1957 for the US Navy
  • SPURV II – Special purpose underwater research vessel built to srudy submarine wakes
  • Theseus (AUV) – Large autonomous underwater vehicle for laying fibre optic cable
  • Tianjin University Petrel HUG

Breathing gas[edit]

Breathing gas – Gas used for human respiration

Decompression equipment[edit]

Decompression equipment – Equipment used by divers to facilitate decompression

  • Decompression buoy – Inflatable surface marker buoy deployed from underwater
  • Decompression trapeze – Horizontal bars suspended at decompression stop depths
  • Dive computer, also known as Decompression computer – Instrument to record dive profile and calculate decompression obligations in real time
  • Diving chamber – Hyperbaric pressure vessel for human occupation used in diving operations
  • Diving shot, also known as Shot line – Substantial weighted near-vertical line with buoy
  • Jonline – A short line used by scuba divers to clip themselves to something

Diver propulsion vehicles[edit]

Diver propulsion vehicle – Powered device for diver mobility and range extension

Diving safety equipment[edit]

Diving safety equipment – Equipment carried or worn by a diver or provided by the dive team to reduce risk or mitigate incidents

  • Alternative air source – Emergency supply of breathing gas for an underwater diver
  • Buddy line – A line physically tethering two scuba divers together underwater to avoid separation in low visibility conditions
  • Decompression buoy, also known as DSMB – Inflatable surface marker buoy deployed from underwater
  • Distance line, also known as dive reel or guide line – Line deployed by scuba divers for navigation
  • Diver's cutting tool – A tool to assist in extricating the diver from entrapment by lines or nets
  • Diver's knife – A tool to assist in extricating the diver from entrapment by lines or nets
  • Jonline – A short line used by scuba divers to clip themselves to something
  • Lifeline, also known as tether – A rope connecting the diver to an attendant, usually at the surface
  • Line marker – Marker used on cave guide lines to provide safety information to divers
  • Safety harness
  • Shotline
  • Surface detection aids
  • Surface marker buoy – A buoy towed a scuba diver to indicate the diver's position

Rebreathers[edit]

Rebreather – Apparatus to recycle breathing gas

  • Carbon dioxide scrubber – Device which absorbs carbon dioxide from circulated gas
  • Carleton CDBA – Military rebreather by Cobham plc
  • Clearance Divers Life Support Equipment – British military electronically controlled closed circuit rebreather
  • Cis-Lunar – Manufacturer of electronically controlled closed-circuit rebreathers for scuba diving
  • Counterlung – Variable volume component in a rebreather to take up and release gas during a breathing cycle
  • Cryogenic rebreather – Rebreather that removes CO2 by freezing it out using heat exchange with liquid oxygen
  • CUMA – Canadian military diving rebreather
  • Davis Submerged Escape Apparatus – Early submarine escape oxygen rebreather also used for shallow water diving.
  • Dräger Dolphin – Semi-closed circuit recreational diving rebreather
  • Dräger Ray – Semi-closed circuit recreational diving rebreather designed to use standard nitrox breathing gas mixtures
  • FROGS – Closed circuit oxygen diving rebreather
  • Halcyon RB80 – Non-depth-compensated passive addition semi-closed circuit rebreather
  • Halcyon PVR-BASC – Semi-closed circuit depth compensated passive addition diving rebreather
  • IDA71 – Russian military rebreather for underwater and high altitude use
  • Interspiro DCSC – Military seem-closed circuit passive addition diving rebreather
  • KISS – Manually controlled closed circuit diving rebreather
  • LAR-5, LAR-6, and LAR-V represented by Drägerwerk – German manufacturer of breathing equipment
  • Lambertsen Amphibious Respiratory Unit – Early closed circuit oxygen diving rebreather.
  • Porpoise – Australian scuba manufacturer
  • Siebe Gorman CDBA – A type of diving rebreather used by the Royal Navy
  • Siva – Military diving rebreather
  • Viper – Electronically-controlled closed circuit mixed gas military rebreather

Remotely operated underwater vehicles[edit]

Remotely operated underwater vehicle – A tethered underwater mobile device operated by a remote crew

  • 8A4-class ROUV – A Chinese work class remotely operated underwater vehicle
  • ABISMO – A Japanese remotely operated underwater vehicle for deep sea exploration
  • Atlantis ROV Team – A high-school underwater robotics team from Whidbey Island, Washington, United States
  • CURV – Early remotely operated underwater vehicle
  • Épaulard – A French remotely operated underwater vehicle of the Ifremer
  • Global Explorer ROV – A deep water science and survey remotely operated vehicle
  • Goldfish-class ROUV – A light class of Chinese remotely operated underwater vehicle
  • Kaikō ROV – A Japanese remotely operated underwater vehicle for deep sea exploration
  • Long-Term Mine Reconnaissance System – An American torpedo tube-launched underwater search and survey unmanned undersea vehicle
  • Mini Rover ROV – A small, low cost observation class remotely operated underwater vehicle
  • OpenROV – Open-source remotely operated vehicle
  • ROV KIEL 6000 – A remotely operated vehicle built by Schilling Robotics, Davis, California for scientific tasks
  • ROV PHOCA – A remotely operated underwater vehicle of the COMANCHE type
  • Scorpio ROV – A brand of underwater submersible Remotely Operated Vehicle used in the oil industry and for submarine rescue
  • Sea Dragon-class ROV – A Chinese deep diving work class remotely operated underwater vehicle
  • Seabed tractor – A special purpose class of remotely operated underwater vehicle
  • Seafox drone – A remotely operated anti-mine marine drone
  • Seahorse ROUV – A Chinese scientific and maintenance remotely operated underwater vehicle
  • SeaPerch – A remotely operated underwater vehicle educational program
  • SJT-class ROUV – A series of Chinese remotely operated underwater vehicles
  • T1200 Trenching Unit – A remotely operated seabed trenching unit
  • VideoRay UROVs – A series of inspection class underwater submersible remotely operated underwater vehicles

Underwater breathing apparatus[edit]

Underwater breathing apparatus – Equipment which provides breathing gas to an underwater diver

Diving support equipment[edit]

Diving support equipment – Equipment used in the support of an underwater diving operation

  • Booster pump – Machine to increase pressure of a fluid
  • Cascade filling system – Filling pressurised gas from a series of storage cylinders
  • Communications panel, also known as Diver's telephone – Surface control panel for underwater diving voice communications system
  • Diver down flag – Flag signal indicating divers are in the water nearby
  • Diver's pump – Manually powered surface air supply for divers
  • Diving air compressor, also known as Diving compressor – Machine used to compress breathing air for use by underwater divers
  • Diving chamber – Hyperbaric pressure vessel for human occupation used in diving operations
  • Diving support vessel – A ship used as a floating base for professional diving projects
    • HMS Challenger – Royal Navy saturation diving support vessel – Royal Navy saturation diving support vessel
    • Liveaboard – Way of using a boat
    • Dive boat – Boat used for the support of scuba diving operations
    • Diving ladder – Ladder to facilitate egress from the water by divers
    • Diving platform (scuba) – Low freeboard platform on a dive boat to give divers easy access to the water
    • Moon pool – An opening in the base of a hull, platform, or chamber giving access to the water below
  • Echo sounder, also known as fish finder – Measuring the depth of water by transmitting sound waves into water and timing the return
  • Gas panel, also known as Diving gas distribution manifold – Breathing gas distribution panel for surface-supplied diving
  • Helium analyzer – Instrument to measure the concentration of helium in a gas mixture
  • Marine VHF radio – Radios operating in the very high frequency maritime mobile band
  • Nitrox production – Methods of producing nitrox mixtures
  • Proton magnetometer, also known as metal detector
  • Recreational Dive Planner (RDP) – A PADI no-decompression dive table also available as a circular slide rule and electronic calculator
  • Remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) – A tethered underwater mobile device operated by a remote crew
  • Satellite navigation – Any system that uses satellite radio signals to provide autonomous geo-spatial positioning
  • Saturation system – A surface hyperbaric complex including a living chamber, transfer chamber, closed diving bell and the infrastructure to operate them
  • Subsurface (software) – Software for logging and planning recreational dives
  • Trongle – Device used on submarines to help swimmers to locate a submerged submarine

Underwater work tools and equipment[edit]

Soviet SPP-1 underwater pistol
Airlift dredging
ROV at work in an underwater oil and gas field. The ROV is operating a subsea torque tool (wrench) on a valve on the subsea structure.

Underwater work tools and equipment – Tools and equipment used for underwater work

Underwater weapons[edit]

Underwater weapons – Weapons that are intended for use underwater

Science of underwater diving[edit]

Physics of underwater diving[edit]

Views through a flat mask, above and below water

Physics of underwater diving – Aspects of physics which affect the underwater diver

  • Buoyancy – An upward force that opposes the weight of an object immersed in fluid
  • Diffusion – Statistical movement of molecules or atoms from a region of high concentration to a region of low concentration
    • Molecular diffusion – The thermal motion of liquid or gas particles at temperatures above absolute zero
    • Permeation – The penetration of a liquid, gas, or vapor through a solid
  • Force – Any interaction that, when unopposed, will change the motion of an object
    • Weight – The force on a mass due to gravity
  • Ideal gas law – The equation of state of a hypothetical ideal gas
    • Combined gas law – Ideal gas law combining Charles's law, Boyle's law, and Gay-Lussac's law
    • Amontons' law – Relationship between pressure and temperature of a gas at constant volume.
    • Boyle's law – Relationship between pressure and volume in a gas at constant temperature
    • Charles's law – Relationship between volume and temperature of a gas at constant pressure
    • Gay-Lussac's law – Relationship between pressure and temperature of a gas at constant volume.
  • Pressure – Force distributed perpendicularly over an area
  • Psychrometric constant – relation of the partial pressure of water in air to temperature
  • Solubility – Capacity of a designated solvent to hold a designated solute in homogeneous solution under specified conditions
    • Henry's law – Relation of equilibrium solubility of a gas in a liquid to its partial pressure in the contacting gas phase
    • Solution – A homogeneous mixture which assumes the phase of the solvent
    • Supersaturation – State of a solution that contains more solute than can be dissolved at equilibrium
  • Surface tension – Tendency of a liquid surface to shrink to reduce surface area
    • Hydrophobe – A molecule or surface that has no attraction to water
    • Surfactant – Substance that lowers the surface tension between a liquid and another material
  • Underwater vision – Effects of the underwater environment on (human) vision
    • Snell's law, also known as Law of refraction – The relation between the angles of incidence and refraction of waves crossing the interface between isotropic media
  • Work of breathing (WoB) – The energy expended to inhale and exhale a breathing gas

The diving environment[edit]

Plunging breaker
Lago Licancabur, site of world's highest ever altitude dive.

Underwater diving environment – The underwater environment to which a diver may be exposed

Physiology of underwater diving[edit]

Diagram of the human circulatory system
Decompression profiles based on the Thermodynamic model compared with the US Navy table for the same depth and bottom time
Diagram of the human respiratory system

Physiology of underwater diving – Influences of the underwater environment on the physiology of air-breathing animals

Diving medicine, disorders and treatment[edit]

Oxygen therapy in a multiplace hyperbaric chamber is often delivered via built in breathing systems.
Monoplace chambers can be used for hyperbaric oxygen therapy if the patient is stable

Diving medicine[edit]

Diving medicine – Diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disorders caused by underwater diving

  • Fitness to dive, also known as Medical fitness to dive – Medical fitness of a person to function safely underwater under pressure
  • Diving medical examiner – A medical practitioner registered to assess medical fitness to dive
  • Diving medical practitioner – A medical practitioner with registered to assess medical fitness to dive, manage diving accidents, plan safety for professional diving operations, provide advanced life support, acute trauma care and general wound care.
  • Diving medical technician – a member of a dive team who is trained in advanced first aid and fit to provide treatment in a hyperbaric chamber in an emergency
  • Hyperbaric medicine – Medical treatment in which an ambient pressure greater than sea level atmospheric pressure is a necessary component

Diving disorders and treatment[edit]

Mask squeeze - a mild form of barotrauma
Staged image showing how victims may black out quietly underwater, often going unnoticed.

Diving disorders – Physiological disorders resulting from underwater diving

Diving safety related articles[edit]

A dive team listens to a safety brief from their dive supervisor
Early testing for oxygen toxicity in divers
Tags in place in a powerplant after it was shut down
Folding lockout hasp, allowing six padlocks to lock out one device.
Checklists reduce the risk of omitting a step in a procedure

Diving safety[edit]

Diving safety – Safety of underwater diving activities

Notable diving incidents rescues and fatalities[edit]

The decompression chamber at the moment the Byford Dolphin accident occurred. D1–D4 are divers; T1 and T2 are dive tenders.

Legal aspects of diving[edit]

Legal aspects of diving – how underwater diving and divers are affected by law

Geography of diving[edit]

Recreational diver over a coral reef in the Red Sea

Recreational dive sites include specific places that recreational scuba divers go to enjoy the underwater environment. This includes publicly accessible recreational diver training sites and technical diving sites beyond the range generally accepted for recreational diving. In this context all diving done for recreational purposes is included. Professional diving tends to be done where the job is, and with the exception of the recreational diving service industry, does not generally occur at specific sites chosen for their easy access, pleasant conditions or interesting features.

Recreational dive sites may be found in a wide range of bodies of water, and may be popular for various reasons, including accessibility, biodiversity, spectacular topography, historical interest and artifacts (such as shipwrecks), and water clarity. Tropical waters of high biodiversity and colourful sea life are popular recreational diving vacation destinations. Indonesia, the Caribbean islands, the Red Sea and the Great Barrier Reef of Australia are regions where the clear, warm, waters and colourful and diverse sea life have made recreational diving an economically important tourist industry.

Recreational divers may accept a relatively high level of risk to dive at a site perceived to be of special interest. Wreck and cave diving have their adherents, and enthusiasts will endure considerable hardship, risk and expense to visit caves and wrecks where few have been before. Some sites are popular almost exclusively for their convenience for training and practice of skills, such as flooded quarries. They are generally found where more interesting and pleasant diving is not locally available, or may only be accessible when weather or water conditions permit.

History of underwater diving[edit]

Siebe's improved design in 1873.

History of underwater diving – History of the practice of descending below the water's surface to interact with the environment

Frogman operations[edit]

Italian Maiale manned torpedo "Siluro San Bartolomeo" displayed at the Royal Navy Submarine Museum, Gosport, UK.

Notable underwater salvage operations[edit]

Salvage of Royal George

Diver training, certification, registration and standards[edit]

Commercial diver training at Blue Rock Quarry

Diver training[edit]

  • Recreational diver certification represented by Diver certification – Certification as competent to dive to a specified standard

Diver certification organisations[edit]

List of diver certification organizations – Agencies which issue certification for competence in diving skills

Organisations setting international standards and codes of practice for diving and diver training[edit]

Commercial diving schools[edit]

Underwater diving organisations[edit]

Diver membership organisations[edit]

Diver membership organisations

Diver nature conservation organisations[edit]

Diving industry trade associations[edit]

Underwater environmental research organisations[edit]

Diving medical research organisations[edit]

Underwater diving publications[edit]

Books and manuals[edit]

Legislation[edit]

Codes of practice[edit]

(National or international codes of practice for diving)

Standards[edit]

(National or international standards relating to diving equipment or practices)

Journals and magazines[edit]

Repositories[edit]

Recreational dive site guides[edit]

(Notable dive site guides with Wikipedia article)

Authors of publications about diving[edit]

Bob Halstead

Researchers in diving medicine and physiology[edit]

John Scott Haldane c. 1910
Paul Bert

Underwater divers[edit]

Underwater divers are people who take part in underwater diving activitiesUnderwater diving is practiced as part of an occupation, or for recreation, where the practitioner submerges below the surface of the water or other liquid for a period which may range between seconds to order of a day at a time, either exposed to the ambient pressure or isolated by a pressure resistant suit, to interact with the underwater environment for pleasure, competitive sport, or as a means to reach a work site for profit or in the pursuit of knowledge, and may use no equipment at all, or a wide range of equipment which may include breathing apparatus, environmental protective clothing, aids to vision, communication, propulsion, maneuverability, buoyancy and safety equipment, and tools for the task at hand.

Pioneers of diving[edit]

Jacques Cousteau
  • James F. Cahill – American scuba diving pioneer
  • Alphonse and Théodore Carmagnolle – French inventors of the first anthropomorphic armoured diving suit
  • Charles Condert – Inventor of an unsuccessful early scuba system
  • Jacques Cousteau – French inventor of open circuit scuba, pioneer diver, author, film-maker and marine researcher
  • Charles Anthony Deane – Pioneering diving engineer and inventor of a surface supplied diving helmet
  • Guglielmo de Lorena – Italian inventor of a diving bell used for archaeological work on the Roman ships of lake Nemi
  • Auguste Denayrouze – French inventor of a demand air supply regulator for underwater diving
  • Frédéric Dumas – French pioneer of scuba diving
  • Ted Eldred – Australian inventor of the single hose diving regulator
  • Maurice Fernez – French inventor and pioneer in underwater breathing apparatus, respirators and gas masks
  • Émile Gagnan – French engineer and co-inventor of the open circuit demand scuba regulator
  • Bret Gilliam – Pioneering technical diver and author.
  • Edmond Halley – English astronomer, geophysicist, mathematician, meteorologist, and physicist
  • Hans Hass – Austrian biologist, film-maker, and underwater diving pioneer
  • Stig Insulán – Inventor of an adjustable automatic exhaust valve for variable volume dry suits
  • Jim Jarret – Diver who test dived the first successful atmospheric diving suits
  • Yves Le Prieur – French naval officer and inventor of a free-flow scuba system
  • John Lethbridge – English wool merchant who invented a diving machine in 1715
  • William Hogarth Main – Cave diver and scuba configuration experimentalist
  • Phil Nuytten – Canadian deep-ocean explorer, scientist, and inventor of the Newtsuit
  • Joseph Salim Peress – Pioneering British diving engineer, inventor of some of the first truly usable atmospheric diving suits
  • Benoît Rouquayrol – French inventor of an early diving demand regulator
  • Dick Rutkowski – American pioneer in hyperbaric and diving medicine and use of mixed breathing gases for diving
  • Joe Savoie – Inventor of the neck dam for lightweight helmets
  • Augustus Siebe – German-born British engineer mostly known for his contributions to diving equipment
  • Charles Spalding – Scottish confectioner and amateur diving bell designer
  • Robert Sténuit – Belgian journalist, writer, underwater archeologist and the first aquanaut.
  • Arne Zetterström – Diver involved in experimental work with Hydrox breathing gas

Underwater art and artists[edit]

Christ of the Abyss at San Fruttuoso, Liguria

Miscellaneous[edit]

(to be allocated)

See also[edit]

Gallery[edit]

References[edit]

External links[edit]