René Théophile "Phil" Nuytten (13 August 194113 May 2023) was a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

, deep-ocean

explorer Exploration is the process of exploring, an activity which has some Expectation (epistemic), expectation of Discovery (observation), discovery. Organised exploration is largely a human activity, but exploratory activity is common to most organis ...

scientist A scientist is a person who Scientific method, researches to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engag ...

inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea, or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...

of the

Newtsuit The Newtsuit is an atmospheric diving suit designed and originally built by Phil Nuytten. The suit is used for work on ocean drilling rigs, pipelines, salvage jobs, and photographic surveys, and is standard equipment in many of the world's navie ...

, and founder of Nuytco Research Ltd. He pioneered designs related to

diving equipment Diving equipment, or underwater diving equipment, is equipment used by underwater divers to make diving activities possible, easier, safer and/or more comfortable. This may be equipment primarily intended for this purpose, or equipment intended ...

, and worked with

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

for more than 25 years on applications related to undersea and space technologies. Today, his equipment is used by a wide range of organizations, including the

National Geographic Society The National Geographic Society, headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, natural sc ...

, NASA, and is standard for almost a dozen navies.

Early life

Nuytten was born in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

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of Métis ancestry. He was subsequently formally adopted into the Kwakiutl nation. He began to design diving gear as a teenager, and opened the first

dive shop A dive center is the base location where recreational divers usually learn scuba diving or make guided dive trips at new locations. Many dive centers operate under the guidelines of ISO 24803, in which case the facilities must meet the ISO mi ...

Western Canada Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces, Canadian West, or Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West, is a list of regions of Canada, Canadian region that includes the four western provinces and t ...

at the age of 15. At the age of 16, he was one of the first two rescue divers on scene after the 1958 Second Narrows Bridge collapse.

Career

Nuytten worked in numerous countries as a commercial diver. In his work for the commercial, scientific, and

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

industries, he developed equipment and deep-water diving, and

technical diving Technical diving (also referred to as tec diving or tech diving) is scuba diving that exceeds the List of diver certification organizations, agency-specified limits of recreational diving for non-Professional diver, professional purposes. Technica ...

techniques. During the 1960s and 1970s, Nuytten was involved in the development of mixed-gas decompression tables. He was part of a team that accomplished the first 600 FSW (feet of seawater) ocean "bounce" dives on Project Nesco. In the 1970s, he co-founded

Oceaneering International Oceaneering International, Inc. is a Subsea (technology), subsea engineering and applied technology company based in Houston, Texas, U.S. that provides engineered services and hardware to customers who operate in Marine (ocean), marine, outer s ...

, Inc. This company became one of the largest underwater skills companies in the world. In 1983, Nuytten appeared on the cover of ''

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...

'' due to his dives into arctic waters to ''Breadalbane''.

Death

Nuytten died the 13 May 2023 aged 81, his family releasing an obituary detailing the significance of his life and contributions to the scientific field.

Media appearances

Print

Resulting from his contributions to marine diving technologies, Nuytten appeared in the media numerous times, including: ''

'', ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'', ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...

'', ''

Popular Science Popular science (also called pop-science or popsci) is an interpretation of science intended for a general audience. While science journalism focuses on recent scientific developments, popular science is more broad ranging. It may be written ...

'', ''Discovery'', ''

Fortune Fortune may refer to: General * Fortuna or Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck * Luck * Wealth * Fate * Fortune, a prediction made in fortune-telling * Fortune, in a fortune cookie Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Fortune'' (19 ...

'', ''

Scientific American ''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it, with more than 150 Nobel Pri ...

'' and ''

Business Week ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'' (and before that ''Business Week'' and ''The Business Week''), is an American monthly business magazine published 12 times a year. The magazine debuted in New York City in Septembe ...

''.

Film and television

For twenty years, Nuytten was featured in and worked on the production of films and television programs based on technology he developed, such as: *''

Descent of Man ''The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex'' is a book by English naturalist Charles Darwin, first published in 1871, which applies evolutionary theory to human evolution, and details his theory of sexual selection, a form of biolog ...

'' (CBC) *'' Mysteries of the Sea'' (NBC) *''Pressure Point'' (Walt Disney) *'' acific Abyss' (BBC) * '' aws of Death'' (Bruce Martin Productions) * '' ctopus Hunt'' National Film Board of Canada) * '' 8 Above, Below'' (National Film Board of Canada * '' Day, Underwater'' (Discovery Channel) Nuytten provided the submersibles and was the senior technical advisor for the film ''

The Abyss ''The Abyss'' is a 1989 American science fiction film written and directed by James Cameron and starring Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, and Michael Biehn. When an American submarine sinks in the Caribbean, a US search and recovery tea ...

''. His Newtsuit is featured in the

IMAX IMAX is a proprietary system of High-definition video, high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and movie theater, theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (image), aspect ratio (approximately ei ...

movie '' Flight of the Aquanaut''.

Newtsuit

In 1979, Nuytten started work on the Newtsuit, a one-atmosphere diving suit. The revolutionary new design featured fully articulated rotary joints. This patented breakthrough design is now used in many subsequent atmospheric diving suits.

Exosuit

In 2000, Nuytten announced that he was developing a new type ultra lightweight powered exoskeleton called the Exosuit This new design was being considered for use as a submarine escape device by the Canadian Department of Defense.

Vent-Base Alpha

It was announced in September 2018 that Nuytten was designing and planned to build an underwater human settlement off of the coast of

, Canada, in the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

. A prototype was to be built as early as 2019, with cylindrical living chambers powered from

Stirling engine A Stirling engine is a heat engine that is operated by the cyclic expansion and contraction of air or other gas (the ''working fluid'') by exposing it to different temperatures, resulting in a net conversion of heat energy to mechanical Work (ph ...

s powered by

hydrothermal vent Hydrothermal vents are fissures on the seabed from which geothermally heated water discharges. They are commonly found near volcanically active places, areas where tectonic plates are moving apart at mid-ocean ridges, ocean basins, and hot ...

sources. The buildings would be built on land and transported likely to the Juan de Fuca Strait, and submerged a few thousand feet below the surface.

Awards and commendations

Academy of Underwater Arts and Sciences The NOGI Awards is an award presented annually by the Academy of Underwater Arts and Sciences (AUAS) to Underwater diving, diving luminaries and is "considered the Oscar of the ocean world." Selection of recipients is based on their record of ac ...

(Hall of Fame membership) * American Association of Aeronautics and Astronautics *

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is a professional society for the field of aerospace engineering Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecra ...

(Life Sciences Award) * Canadian Advanced Technology Award * Canadian Award for Business Excellence * Contractors International’s Commercial Diving (Hall of Fame membership) * Diving Association of Diving Contractors * Diving Hall of Fame (induction) *

Explorers Club The Explorers Club is an American-based international multidisciplinary professional society with the goal of promoting scientific exploration and field study. The club was founded in New York City in 1904 and has served as a meeting point for ex ...

(Lowell Thomas award in 2000) * John Galletti Memorial Award * Jules Verne Award *

Order of British Columbia The Order of British Columbia is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Instituted in 1989 by Lieutenant Governor David Lam, on the advice of the Cabinet under Premier Bill Vander Zalm, the order is administe ...

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a Public university, public research university in British Columbia, Canada. It maintains three campuses in Greater Vancouver, respectively located in Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, British Columbia, Surrey, and ...

(honorary Doctor of Laws degree) *

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

(2017)

References

External links

Image of Phil Nuytten

Image and specifications of the Exosuit
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nuytten, Phil 1941 births 2023 deaths Canadian male divers Canadian Métis people Canadian inventors Sportspeople from Vancouver Members of the Order of British Columbia Officers of the Order of Canada Underwater diving engineers 20th-century Canadian sportsmen

Early life

Career

Death

Media appearances

Print

Film and television

Newtsuit

Exosuit

Vent-Base Alpha

Awards and commendations

See also

References

External links