de CORLIEU, Louis Marie

de CORLIEU, Louis Marie

France (1888-1967)

Last updated: June 14, 2018 at 5:14 am

Inventor of swim fins; demonstrated his first fin prototype to a group of French naval officers, including Yves Le Prieur, in 1914; received his first European patent for swimming propellers in 1933; designed a broad bladed fin in 1935; began serial production of his fins in 1939, which he had previously manufactured by hand in his Paris apartment; sold U.S. production licence to Owen Churchill in 1939; de Corlieu’s fin design was used by Jacques-Yves Cousteau during the production of the first movie filmed by scuba divers in 1943, and by U.S. forces on D-Day in 1944; Captain of the Marine nationale (French Navy) in WWI.

ISDHOF Early Pioneer

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