Jacques-Yves Cousteau  (French: [Zak iv kusto]; commonly known in English as Jacques Cousteau; 11 June 1910 - 25 June 1997) was a French naval officer, explorer, conservationist, filmmaker, innovator, scientist, photographer, author and researcher who studied the sea and all forms of life in water. He co-developed the Aqua-lung, pioneered marine conservation and was a member of the Academie francaise. Cousteau described his underwater world research in a series of books, perhaps the most successful being his first book, The Silent World: A Story of Undersea Discovery and Adventure, published in 1953.
Late 1940s: GERS and Elie Monnier
In 1946, Cousteau and Tailliez showed the film Epaves ("Shipwrecks") to Admiral Lemonnier, who gave them the responsibility of setting up the Groupement de Recherches Sous-marines (GRS) (Underwater Research Group) of the French Navy in Toulon. A little later it became the GERS (Groupe d'Etudes et de Recherches Sous-Marines, = Underwater Studies and Research Group), then the COMISMER ("COMmandement des Interventions Sous la MER", = "Undersea Interventions Command"), and finally more recently the CEPHISMER. In 1947, Chief Petty Officer Maurice Fargues became the first diver to die using an aqualung, while attempting a new depth record with the GERS near Toulon.  In 1948, between missions of mine clearance, underwater exploration and technological and physiological tests, Cousteau undertook a first campaign in the Mediterranean on board the sloop Elie Monnier, with Philippe Tailliez, Frederic Dumas, Jean Alinat and the scenario writer Marcel Ichac. The small team also undertook the exploration of the Roman wreck of Mahdia (Tunisia). It was the first underwater archaeology operation using autonomous diving, opening the way for scientific underwater archaeology. Cousteau and Marcel Ichac brought back from there the Carnets diving film (presented and preceded with the Cannes Film Festival 1951).  Cousteau and the Elie Monnier then took part in the rescue of Professor Jacques Piccard's bathyscaphe, the FNRS-2, during the 1949 expedition to Dakar. Thanks to this rescue, the French Navy was able to reuse the sphere of the bathyscaphe to construct the FNRS-3.  The adventures of this period are told in the two books The Silent World (1953, by Cousteau and Dumas) and Plongees sans cable (1954, by Philippe Tailliez).

Q: What is GERS?
A: Groupe d'Etudes et de Recherches Sous-Marines, = Underwater Studies and Research Group

Q: What did they do?
A: Underwater Research Group
Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?
Chief Petty Officer Maurice Fargues became the first diver to die using an aqualung,
Chief Petty Officer Maurice Fargues became the first diver to die using an aqualung,