By: Rhonda Moniz And Kira Coley
The world’s oceans are hectic with advanced underwater technology striving to uncover its longretained secrets. Yet, 60 years ago Denise was the only one of her kind. Developed by JacquesYves Cousteau and engineer Jean Mollard in 1959 at the French Centre for Undersea Research, Denise, or SP350, was the first manned underwater vehicle designed expressly for scientific exploration. In 1965, the advancement of technology allowed Denise, along with Cousteau's team on board Calypso, to explore depths down to 500 m and complete over 1,500 dives. Six decades later, some question if there is still a place for manned underwater systems in scientific exploration and what the future holds for this technology.