Christian J. Lambertsen

Who was Christian J. Lambertsen?

Christian James Lambertsen was an American environmental medicine and diving medicine specialist who was principally responsible for developing the United States Navy frogmen's rebreathers in the early 1940s for underwater warfare. Lambertsen designed a series of rebreathers in 1940 and in 1944 and first called his invention breathing apparatus. Later, after the war, he called it Laru and finally, in 1952, he changed his invention's name again to SCUBA. Although diving regulator technology was invented by Émile Gagnan and Jacques-Yves Cousteau in 1943 and wasn't originally related to rebreathers, the current use of the word SCUBA is largely attributed to Gagnan's and Cousteau's invention. The US Navy considers Lambertsen to be "the father of the Frogmen".