" Swiss deep sea explorer and inventor Jacques Piccard, who holds the record for travelling to the deepest point underwater, died Saturday at the age of 86, a statement said. "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, ... at his home on the edge of his beloved Lake Geneva," it said. Piccard, who was born in Brussels, together with Don Walsh reached the bottom of the Mariana Trench, 10,916 metres (35,813 feet) below sea level on January 23, 1960 -- the farthest point underwater. He also witnessed living organisms at a depth of over 11,000 metres below sea level, a discovery that led to a ban in nuclear waste dumping into the ocean." May he rest in peace. http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081101/en_afp/switzerlandsciencepiccard A fictional space explorer and captain of the famous uss star ship enterprise has a similar last name. He is the Jean-Luc Picard.
