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Can man live and work beneath the sea?
The answer to that question, which could have major import in the fields of medicine, mining, agriculture, water control, drug production, and national defense, is beginning to take shape off the coast of southern California. The answer is a preliminary "yes".
Almost a mile off shore from the Scripps Institute of Oceanography in La Jolla, ten men last week ended a 15-day period of living and working 205 feet beneath the surface of the Pacific ocean.
Physicians promptly reported that although the men were tired, preliminary physical examinations showed they were in "very good physical condition."
Based on these findings, directors of the project forecast that men will be working at depths of 800 feet or more the year-round—in three-week relays—within the next five years. They also predicted that by that time completely mobile underwater laboratories will be used.
As the first