page_title: Jean-Baptiste de La Chapelle
hierarchical_section_title: Jean-Baptiste de La Chapelle
context_page_description: Jean-Baptiste de La Chapelle was a French priest, mathematician and inventor.
  He contributed 270 articles to the Encyclopédie in the subjects of arithmetic and geometry. In June 1747 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London.
  He was the inventor of a primitive diving suit in 1775, which he called a "scaphandre" from the Greek words skaphe and andros in his book Traité de la construction théorique et pratique du scaphandre ou du bateau de l'homme. The invention of the Abbé de la Chapelle consisted of a suit made of cork which allowed soldiers to float and swim in water. As the name and description suggest, it was more of a flotation suit than a diving suit.
context_section_description: Jean-Baptiste de La Chapelle (c.1710–1792, Paris) was a French priest, mathematician and inventor.
  He contributed 270 articles to the Encyclopédie in the subjects of arithmetic and geometry. In June 1747 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London.
  He was the inventor of a primitive diving suit in 1775, which he called a "scaphandre" from the Greek words skaphe (boat) and andros (man) in his book Traité de la construction théorique et pratique du scaphandre ou du bateau de l'homme (Treatise on the theoretical and practical construction of the "Scaphandre" or human boat). The invention of the Abbé de la Chapelle consisted of a suit made of cork which allowed soldiers to float and swim in water. As the name and description suggest, it was more of a flotation suit than a diving suit.
caption: 1776 German translation of the Traité de la construction du scaphandre, Varsow.
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon PowerShot A530", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "QuickTime 7.1.6", "Image DateTime": "2007:06:18 17:09:59", "Image HostComputer": "Mac OS X 10.4.9", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "254", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "3000", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4148", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/60", "EXIF FNumber": "13/5", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2007:06:18 15:37:01", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2007:06:18 15:37:01", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "3", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "189/32", "EXIF ApertureValue": "11/4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "11/4", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "80", "EXIF FocalLength": "29/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2592", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1944", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "11520", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "81000/7", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}