Diving can be traced as far back as as 4500 BC when many cultures used free diving to gather food.  Treasure hunters can be traced as far back as 500 BC  to Scyllias and his daughter, Cyana who hunted for treasures lost in the Persian and Greek wars.

Around 1500AC Di Vinci  designs the first self contained breathing apparatus which appears in his “Codex Atlanticus,” but no proof that he used or even designed this apparatus was ever found.

In 1771, a Frenchman, Freminet, designs a helmet with eye holes.  Air was pumped down to the driver.

It wasn’t until 1825, when Englishman William James created the first unit with compressed air allowing the diver limited time underwater.  This was the beginning of scuba as we know it today.

Also in 1825, American Charles Condert developed a reservoir for compressed air which contains a valve to inflate a dive suit.

In 1892 Frenchman Louis Boutan created a closed circuit system that allowed divers to stay submerged up to 3 hours.

1912 - The US Navy Tables were published.

1923- W. H. Longley developed the first color underwater photographs.

1943 - Jacques Cousteau and Emile Gagnam develop the first Aqua Lung which was imported in the US in 1949.

1954 - First full textbook of recreational diving, The Science of Skin and Scuba Diving is published by the Council for National Cooperation in Aquatics.

1956 - Ted Nixon introduced the red and white “diver down” flag to notify boats that divers are below.

1980- National Diving Accident Network opens, which is renamed Divers Alert Network in 1983.

And the rest is history… 

Author Bio: Ronnie  Deboer is an android developer. He graduated from The University of Arizona. He works as android developer at IT-company and as writer at app store ratings website. He's keen on technologies and diving