Full Name: Jacques-Yves Cousteau; Profession: French naval officer, undersea explorer, oceanographer, filmmaker, inventor, author, ecologist, conservationist, and television presenter who revolutionized humanity’s relationship with the oceans; Nationality: French; Born: June 11, 1910; Birthplace: Saint-André-de-Cubzac, Gironde, France; Generation: Greatest Generation (G.I. Generation), born in the 1901–1920s cohort that came of age during the Great Depression and the Second World War; Chinese Zodiac: Metal Dog (1910 is a Metal Dog year in the Chinese zodiac cycle, and his June birth falls well within that lunar year); Zodiac Sign: Gemini (the Sun was in Gemini between roughly May 21 and June 21, so his June 11 birthday is firmly under this sign); Age in 2026: 116 years old (a posthumous “would-be” age, as he died in 1997 after living to 87). Marital Status: Married twice, first to Simone Melchior from 1937 until she died in 1990, with whom he shared both love and professional partnership aboard his research vessel, and later to Francine Triplet, whom he married in 1991 and remained with until he died in 1997; Children: four children in total, two sons with Simone—Jean-Michel Cousteau (born 1938) and Philippe Cousteau (born 1940, who tragically died in 1979)—and two children with Francine Triplet, daughter Diane (born 1980) and son Pierre-Yves (born 1982), all of whom in various ways carried forward elements of his oceanic legacy. Description: Jacques-Yves Cousteau was one of the most influential explorers and science communicators of the twentieth century, a visionary who combined technical ingenuity, poetic imagination, and a profound ecological conscience to open the hidden world beneath the waves to a global audience. As a young French naval officer, he survived a serious car accident in the 1930s. He turned to swimming and underwater exploration as rehabilitation, soon experimenting with early breathing apparatus that would lead him, together with engineer Émile Gagnan, to co-develop the modern demand regulator and the Aqua-Lung, making autonomous scuba diving possible for scientists and ordinary people alike and forever changing how humans could experience the sea. Over decades of voyages on his famed ship Calypso, Cousteau led pioneering expeditions that combined oceanography, marine biology, underwater archaeology, and adventure narrative, producing award‑winning films and the landmark television series The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau, which brought vivid color footage of coral reefs, deep-sea creatures, and remote maritime cultures into millions of homes around the world. A gifted storyteller and writer, he authored numerous books that blended mythic reverence for the sea with sober warnings about pollution, overfishing, and habitat destruction. He founded the Cousteau Society to advocate for marine conservation and the protection of fragile ecosystems, helping to seed the modern environmental movement and inspiring generations of activists, scientists, and ordinary viewers to see the oceans as a living, interconnected organism rather than an inexhaustible resource. He and his teams developed not only scuba gear but also underwater cameras, submersibles, and living habitats, advancing saturation diving and underwater habitation. At the same time, philosophically, he helped popularize the idea of Spaceship Earth and the ocean as our “water planet home,” arguing that the fate of the seas and the fate of humanity were inseparable. Even amid personal complexities—an intense work ethic, long absences at sea, the loss of his son Philippe in a plane crash, and the eventual revelation of his long-standing second family with Francine—Cousteau remained a towering cultural icon whose red beanie, weathered face, and gentle yet urgent voice became synonymous with scientific curiosity and ecological responsibility, making him arguably the single most famous person ever born on June 11 and a Gemini whose mercurial, inquisitive nature symbolically matched his lifelong quest to explore, document, and spiritually honor the oceans of the world. Cause of Death: Died in Paris, France, on June 25, 1997, at age 87, from a heart attack/heart failure following respiratory illness and heart problems, passing away at home but leaving behind a vast scientific, cultural, and environmental legacy that continues through the Cousteau Society and the many ocean advocates he inspired.