Deep sea exploration pioneer Jacques Piccard died on Sunday, aged 86.

“One of the last great explorers of the 20th century, a true Captain Nemo who went deeper than any other man, Jacques Piccard passed away on Saturday, 1st November at his home on the edge of his beloved Lake Geneva,” says a statement issued by his son, the balloonist Bertrand Piccard (pdf).

In 1960 Piccard travelled to the bottom of the Challenger Deep with Don Walsh, claiming a still unsurpassed record for the deepest ever dive: 11 kilometres down.

“By far the most interesting find was the fish that came floating by our porthole,” he said. “We were astounded to find higher marine life forms down there at all.”

The discovery of life at such depths became a key point in deciding against storing nuclear waste in the deep ocean (Daily Telegraph, BBC, AFP).

The Independent adds:

After his record-breaking dive, Jacques went to work for Nasa and built four mid-depth submarines including the first for tourists – demonstrated at the 1964 Swiss National Exhibition when it carried 33,000 passengers to the bottom of Lake Geneva.

“A very sad day,” says Kevin Zelnio on the Deep Sea News blog. “We are closing in on the end of an era of deep sea exploration. Their discoveries gave birth to our science.”

Image: Don Walsh, bottom, and Jacques Piccard, top, in the Marianas Trench / NOAA