Scientist Jacques Piccard Dies

European scientist and underwater explorer Jacques Piccard died 1 November 2008 at his home in Switzerland. Born in Brussles, Belgium, in 1922, he is one of only two men to reach the bottom of the Marianas Trench, the deepest ocean bottom on Earth. Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry said he named his character Jean-Luc Picard—the captain of the Enterprise in Star Trek: The Next Generation—for Piccard.

Piccard, along with Don Walsh, voyaged to the bottom of the sea in 1960 in the bathyscaphe Trieste, which he deisgned and built. Scientific exploration was in Piccard's genes: his father, Auguste, was a physicist, and the first man to ride a balloon into the stratosphere. August worked with his son on the design of the Trieste.

New Scientist has a brief obituary and a photo gallery from Piccard's professional life at this link.