Auguste Piccard (28.01.1884-24.03.1962) was a Swiss physicist. He was born in Basel. He graduated from the Zurich Polytechnic, where he worked first as an assistant and then as a professor. In 1922—39 and 1946—47 he was professor at the Polytechnic Institute in Brussels.
His work concerned the physics of cosmic rays, oceanography and aeronautics. He designed a stratospheric balloon and a number of bathyscaphes. In stratospheric balloons of his own design he made flights into the stratosphere up to a height of 16370 m in order to study cosmic rays (1931 and 1932). In bathyscaphes in 1948 and 1953 he descended to a depth of up to 3160 m.