René Théophile "Phil" Nuytten, (born August 13, 1941) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) 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 ...

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...

, deep-ocean

explorer Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

scientist A scientist is a person who conducts Scientific method, scientific research 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, ...

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 navies ...

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

diving equipment 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 for other purposes which is found ...

, and has worked with

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

for more than 25 years on applications related to undersea and

space technologies Space technology is technology for use in outer space, in travel (''astronautics'') or other activities beyond Earth's atmosphere, for purposes such as spaceflight, space exploration, and Earth observing satellite, Earth observation. Space technolo ...

. Today, his equipment is used by a wide range of organizations, including the

National Geographic Society The National Geographic Society (NGS), headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational organizations in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, and ...

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

Early life

Nuytten was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, and is a

Métis The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United States. They have a shared history and culture which derives ...

. He was subsequently formally adopted into the Kwakiutl nation. While still in his teens, he began to design diving gear, 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 the Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West, is a Canadian region that includes the four western provinces just north of the Canada� ...

Career

Nuytten has worked in numerous countries as a

commercial diver Professional diving is underwater diving where the divers are paid for their work. The procedures are often regulated by legislation and codes of practice as it is an inherently hazardous occupation and the diver works as a member of a team. Du ...

. 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. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

industries, he has developed equipment and

deep-water diving Deepwater may refer to ocean water in the abyssal zone, hadal zone, or other deep ocean zones. Deepwater may also refer to: Entertainment * Deep Water (Highsmith novel), a 1957 a psychological thriller novel by Patricia Highsmith * ''Deepwat ...

, and

technical diving Technical diving (also referred to as tec diving or tech diving) is scuba diving that exceeds the agency-specified limits of recreational diving Recreational diving or sport diving is diving for the purpose of leisure and enjoyment, usually ...

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 A project is any undertaking, carried out individually or collaboratively and possibly involving research or design, that is carefully planned to achieve a particular goal. An alternative view sees a project managerially as a sequence of even ...

. In the 1970s, he co-founded

Oceaneering International Oceaneering International, Inc. is a subsea engineering and applied technology company based in Houston, Texas, U.S. that provides engineered services and hardware to customers who operate in marine, space, and other environments. Oceaneering'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 Magazine ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...

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

Media appearances

Print

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

'', ''

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

'', ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...

'', ''

Popular Science ''Popular Science'' (also known as ''PopSci'') is an American digital magazine carrying popular science content, which refers to articles for the general reader on science and technology subjects. ''Popular Science'' has won over 58 awards, incl ...

'', ''Discovery'', ''

Fortune Fortune may refer to: General * Fortuna or Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck * Luck * Wealth * Fortune, a prediction made in fortune-telling * Fortune, in a fortune cookie Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Fortune'' (1931 film) ...

'', ''

Scientific American ''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it. In print since 1845, it i ...

'' and ''

Business Week ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City ...

''.

Film and television

For twenty years, Nuytten has been 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 biolo ...

'' (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 team ...

''. His Newtsuit is featured in the

IMAX IMAX is a proprietary system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (approximately either 1.43:1 or 1.90:1) and steep stadium seating. Graeme F ...

movie '' Flight of the Aquanaut''.

Newtsuit

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

Exosuit

In 2000, Nuytten announced that he is developing a new type ultra lightweight powered exoskeleton called th
Exosuit
This new design is 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

Vancouver, Canada Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. The ...

in the

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

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

Stirling engine A Stirling engine is a heat engine that is operated by the cyclic compression and expansion of air or other gas (the ''working fluid'') between different temperatures, resulting in a net conversion of heat energy to mechanical work. More specif ...

s powered by

hydrothermal vent A hydrothermal vent is a fissure 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 hotspot ...

sources. The buildings would be built on land and transported likely to the

Juan de Fuca Strait The Strait of Juan de Fuca (officially named Juan de Fuca Strait in Canada) is a body of water about long that is the Salish Sea's outlet to the Pacific Ocean. The international boundary between Canada and the United States runs down the centre ...

, 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 diving luminaries and is "considered the Oscar of the ocean world." Selection of recipients is based on their record of accomplishments and ...

(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. The AIAA is the U.S. representative on the International Astronautical Federation and the International Council of ...

(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 fo ...

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

Jules Verne Award Created in 1992 by Jean-Christophe Jeauffre and Frédéric Dieudonné, the two founders of the Jules Verne Festival, the Jules Verne Awards are a set of awards given annually for excellence in exploration, environmental and cinematic achievements ...

Order of British Columbia The Order of British Columbia (french: Ordre de la Colombie-Britannique) 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 ...

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a public research university in British Columbia, Canada, with three campuses, all in Greater Vancouver: Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, and Vancouver. The main Burnaby campus on Burnaby Mountain, located from ...

(honorary Doctor of Laws degree) *

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...

(2017)

References

External links

Image of Phil Nuytten

Image and specifications of the Exosuit
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nuytten, Phil 1941 births Living people Canadian male divers Canadian Métis people Canadian inventors Sportspeople from Vancouver Members of the Order of British Columbia Officers of the Order of Canada

Early life

Career

Media appearances

Print

Film and television

Newtsuit

Exosuit

Vent-Base Alpha

Awards and commendations

See also

References

External links