page_title: Hans Hass
section_title: Post war activity and fame
hierarchical_section_title: Hans Hass / Post war activity and fame
caption_attribution_description: English: This image illustrates the front cover of a Heinke underwater swimming products brochure from the 1950s.Hans and Lotte Hass model diving masks and swimming fins from the range.
context_page_description: Hans Hass was an Austrian biologist and underwater diving pioneer. He was known mainly for being among the first scientists to popularise coral reefs, stingrays and sharks. He pioneered the making of documentaries filmed underwater and led the development of a type of rebreather. He is also known for his energon theory and his commitment to protecting the environment.
context_section_description: In 1945 the Seeteufel was lost when the Soviets captured Königsberg.
  In 1947 his film Menschen unter Haien had its world premiere in Zurich, and his most popular book with a very similar title was released in 1948. As a consequence, he got contracts with Herzog-Film (Munich) and Sascha-Film (Vienna). He also went on his first expedition with his new research ship named 'Xarifa', which was mostly financed through photo safaris in the Red Sea and by the BBC.
  Hass's marriage to Hannelore Schroth produced a son, Hans Hass, Jr. The marriage ended in 1950 and he married his second wife, Lotte Baierl, that same year.
  Hass produced 105 commercial films, many featuring himself and his second wife, who was an expert diver. In 1951, Hass's film Under the Red Sea was awarded the first prize at the Venice Film Festival.
  After expeditions in East Africa and South Asia, his first TV series was developed in 1959, in 1961 for the first time about creatures outside the water. This was followed by behavioural research and the 'energon theory' from 1963 to 1966. From his behavioural research, Hass formed his energon hypothesis, the focus of his work in later years. It posits that the behaviours of all life-forms — human, nonhuman animal and plant — have common origins.  Combined with management strategies, Hass published about commonalities with evolution in 1969. In the 1970s he addressed environmental and commercial themes and was appointed to a professorship by the University of Vienna. In 1983, he started long term studies and tutorials about predatory instincts in profession. Hass consolidated marine biology, behaviour research and management theories under one umbrella. He believed that his energon theory could not be disproved. In 1989, he addressed himself to environmental themes.
  After the Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt disappeared in the waters of Cheviot Beach at Portsea, Victoria on 17 December 1967, Hass visited Australia and explored the area where Holt disappeared for his 1971 film documentary Das Geheimnis der Cheviot Bay (The Secret of Cheviot Bay). In an interview with Harry Martin for the ABC's current affairs programme "A.M" Hass said that having observed the underwater conditions of the area with its sharp and jagged rocks, he was convinced that Holt had been trapped in the structure of one of these rocks and his body considerably torn by the nature of the forces of the sea and the sharp rocks.
  Hass acknowledged a rivalry with the better-known French scientist Jacques Cousteau; according to the New York Times obituary, Hass told historian Tim Ecott that "For Cousteau there exists only Cousteau. He never acknowledged others or corrected the impression that he wasn't the first in diving or underwater photography."
  Hass died on 16 June 2013 in Vienna. He was 94 and was survived by his wife and daughter Meta. Lotte Hass died in January 2015. Hass's son Hans Hass Jr., an actor and composer, committed suicide in 2009.
  In 2002 the Historical Diving Society established the Hans Hass Award which is awarded to individuals that display international achievement in underwater science, technology, or arts and literature.
caption: Hans and Lotte Hass wearing the System Hans Hass fins he designed on 1950s Heinke catalogue cover
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