Tauchboot, Unterseeboot

Mésoscaphe-Modell <Auguste Piccard>, PX-8

Dating

2006, Vorbild: 1963

Persons

Auguste Piccard (1884 - 1962), Konstrukteur/in, archivalisch belegt

Jacques Piccard (1922 - 2008), Konstrukteur/in, archivalisch belegt

Schweizerische Landesausstellung Lausanne 1964 (Expo 64, Exposition nationale Suisse = Esposizione Nazionale Svizzera = Swiss National Exposition) (1964 - 1964), Betreiber/in Vorbild, archivalisch belegt

Verkehrshaus der Schweiz (Roland Lohri), Modellbauer/in, archivalisch belegt

Giovanola Frères SA (Giovanola SA) (1888 - 2005), Hersteller/in Vorbild, archivalisch belegt

Description

Mésoscaphe <Auguste Piccard>, PX-8 (Mésoscaphe, Modell), von Jacques Piccard, für Schweizerische Landesausstellung Lausanne (Expo 64).

Signature / Inscription

Signatur / Beschriftung: Beschriftung: "E+ / Exposition / Nationale / Suisse / Lausanne 1964", "Auguste Piccard"

Object type

Object (three-dimensional)

Geography

Territorium: Genfersee

Material / Technique

Holz, Kunststoff, Messing

Dimensions

1:25 ca. 115 x 28 x 27 cm

Inventory number

VHS-10705

Legend

Mesoscaph PX-8 “Auguste Piccard”, CH 1964 (scale model 1:25) The idea of developing a passenger-carrying submarine was connected with the intention of creating a tourist attraction for Expo ’64 in Lausanne. After the scientific mission to the deepest point on Earth with the bathyscaph, the Piccards also wanted to increase public awareness of the undersea world. The mesoscaph PX-8 helped more than 33,000 Expo visitors to venture deep in this previously scarcely accessible habitat. Auguste Piccard discovered that acrylic glass was significantly better suited for his deep-sea submarine FNRS 2 than the hard, yet brittle conventional glass or sapphire glass. From that time on, this material was used for all of the Piccards’ submarines, including for the Expo ’64 submarine PX-8, named after the by-now deceased Auguste Piccard. After service in all oceans of the world, numerous modifications and damage as a result of a tornado in Florida, the mesoscaph ceased being used for dives. In time, it became severely rusted and decayed. At Expo.02, this condition even served as a symbol for transience. With the inclusion of the mesoscaph in the national transport collection, the Swiss Museum of Transport decided to preserve this extraordinary witness to home-grown innovation capacity for posterity.