Science: Artificial Dive

Last winter a free-lance deep-sea diver and experimenter named Max Nohl had himself lowered 420 ft. to the bottom of Lake Michigan, thus making the world’s deepest dive to date in a diving suit (TIME, Dec. 13).* In so doing, Max Nohl conclusively showed the value of a helium-oxygen mixture for deep diving. Helium is a light gas, requires little effort to inhale. It also seems to forestall that bugbear of divers, “the bends” (gas bubbles in the blood).

Last week, the U. S. Navy reported a successful dive to 402 ft., using the helium-oxygen mixture. The Navy record was still 18 ft. short of Nohl’s mark. The Navy also announced an “artificial dive” in a pressure chamber duplicating the pressure 500 ft. down, indicating that actual dives to that grim depth may soon be accomplished.

*Dr. William Beebe’s bathysphere record is 3,028 ft.