[1] Although never visible in the Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau series, Simone played a key role in the operation at sea.
Acting as mother, healer, nurse and psychiatrist to the all-male crew for 40 years, her nickname was "La Bergère", the Shepherdess.
In 1924, Henri Melchior, as a director with Air Liquide (France's main producer of industrial gases), moved his family to Kobe, Japan.
In 1942, Simone's father provided financing and the manufacturing expertise of Émile Gagnan at Air Liquide to build Jacques Cousteau's aqua-lung.
In 1963, Simone became the world's first female aquanaut by living in Starfish House, an underwater habitat, for the final four days of the Conshelf II project.
[3] Describing his wife, Jacques Cousteau said, "She was the happiest out of camera range, in the crow's nest of Calypso, for example, scanning the sea for whales.