| -link"> | | | | waves on unicellular material and was invited to |
| Scuba wet suits were not taken seriously until World | | | | attend a Swimmer’s Symposium. His concept |
| War II and the advent of Navy Frogmen (SEALs) | | | | was that the diver’s skin does not have to |
| who became one of America’s most | | | | stay dry to prevent heat loss if the thermal insulation |
| effective weapons of the war. On any kind of | | | | used in the wet suit was obtained by air entrapped in |
| measurable basis, costs of operations versus costs | | | | the material of the suit. |
| of effectiveness, man-to-man, or overall kill ratios, | | | | With the French invention of the Aqua-Lung, Self |
| the SEALs exceeded expectations on any level. | | | | Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus (SCUBA) |
| Once recognized, the military put a much time and | | | | was used in the war and afterwards spawned |
| money into improving the effectiveness of its | | | | investigative teams exploring the ocean’s |
| frogmen. That meant improving the design, | | | | many mysteries. As soon as this began, the pressing |
| effectiveness and durability of wet suits. | | | | need for wetsuits was made painfully obvious by the |
| There is a controversy that developed at the time | | | | divers suffering from hypothermia after only a few |
| over whether or not wet suits had to remain dry. | | | | dives. The divers tried everything from greased long |
| Sounds like a set up for a joke but it’s not. All | | | | johns to leftover Air Force survival suits, and the |
| underwater, rubberized protective outfits are called | | | | Bradner wet suit. Bradner was the first to use a |
| wetsuits. The controversy was over whether heat | | | | unicellular material similar to the type he was working |
| loss from the diver’s body could be controlled | | | | with in the radiation laboratory in his wet suit. The |
| better if the wetsuit kept his skin dry or not. It was | | | | material came from a company called Rubatex and |
| Hugh Bradner who is credited with the first wet suit | | | | was called Neoprene and the original model for |
| in 1952. Mr. Bradner was actually working as a | | | | today’s high-tech, three-level wet suit was |
| physicist at UC Berkeley’s radiation laboratory | | | | born. |
| where he was testing the reflections of shock | | | | |