Jacques Piccard (28 July 1922 – 1 November 2008)[1] was a Swiss oceanographer and engineer, known for having developed underwater submarines for studying ocean currents.

Jacques initially started out his career by teaching economics at University of Geneva while continuing to help his father improve the bathyscaphe to demonstrate its potential for operating in deep waters.

[5] Jacques sought financial help from the U.S. Navy, which at that time was exploring various ways of designing submarines for underwater research.

Recognizing the strategic value of a workable submersible for submarine salvage and rescue, the Navy began testing the Trieste for greater depths.

On 23 January 1960, Piccard and Lt. Don Walsh reached the floor of the Mariana Trench located in the western North Pacific Ocean.

The historic dive received worldwide attention, and Piccard wrote an account of it, Seven Miles Down, with Robert S. Dietz, a renowned geologist who had helped plan the mission.

On 14 July 1969, just two days before the Apollo 11 launch, the Ben Franklin, also known as the Grumman/Piccard PX-15 mesoscaphe, was towed to the high-velocity center of the Gulf Stream off the coast of Palm Beach, Florida.

Once on site, the Ben Franklin with its six-man, international crew descended to 1,000 feet (300 m) off of Riviera Beach, Florida, and drifted 1,444 miles (2,324 km) north with the current for more than four weeks, surfacing near Maine.

[9]: 139–140 Named for the American patriot and inventor who was one of the first to chart the Gulf Stream, the 50-foot (15 m) Ben Franklin was built between 1966 and 1968 in Switzerland for Piccard and the Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation.

Ambient artists Matt Ruhlmann and Celer collaboratively released an album called Mesoscaphe in 2008, dedicated to the voyage of the Ben Franklin.