1951 The Reserve Valve, later commonly known as "J" valve was developed.
1951 Hans Hass published "Diving as Adventure"
1952 "Silent World" was released by Jacques-Yves Cousteau, Frédéric Dumas, and James Dugan.
1953 "Underwater Safety" containing important basics on diving safety, was published by E. R. Cross.
1954 The National Cooperation in Aquatics published the "Science of Skin and Scuba Diving" and it becomes the main textbook for diver education.
1954 The television program Kingdom of the Sea starring Zale Parry is aired in the US. That same year Parry broke the depth record by diving to 64 meter
near Catalina, CA. Her record attracted many female to scuba diving.
1955 The first formal instructor certification program was created by Al Tillman and Bev Morgan.
1956 At the University of California the first wetsuit is introduced by scientists and the red and white "Divers Down" flag was introduced by Ted Nixon.
1958 Sherwood Manufacturing announce the piston regulator.
1959 YMCA organized the first nationally scuba diver certification program and the Underwater Society of America was formed.
1960 Jacques Picard and Don Walsh descended to 10921 meter in the bathyscaphe "Trieste".
1960 Al Tillman and Neal Hess create the National Association of Underwater Instructors (NAUI).
1961 The National Association of Skin Diving Schools (NASDS) was founded by John Gaffney.
1962 A number of experiments were conducted whereby people lived in underwater habitats.
1963 In the "Man in the Sea" project Ed Link spends 24 hours at 61 meter.
1966 The Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) was founded by John Cronin and Ralph Ericson.
1968 A dive to 133 meter, using compressed air, was carried out by John J. Gruener and R. Neal Watson.
1970 Bob Clark founded Scuba Schools International (SSI).
1971 Scubapro introduces the Stabilization Jacket.
1980 Divers Alert Network (DAN) was founded at Duke University to promote safe diving.
1981 A dive record to 686 meter was made at the Duke Medical Center decompression chamber.
1983 The first commercially available dive computer, the Orca Edge, was introduced.
1985 The wreck of the Titanic was found.
1990 Further improvements and developments are taking place and find it's way into the scuba diving sport. The use of mixed gases, like Oxygen and Helium, full face masks, underwater voice communication, propulsion systems, computer, etc. became more common in the 1990s.
1994 Bret Gilliam and Mitch Skaggs formed Technical Diving International (TDI)
1998 Scuba Diving International (SDI) was created.
1999 Chuck Driver and John Bennett descend to 200 meter. The deepest oceanic dive ever completed. The same year Barte Vestor set a challenging 225 meter mark.
2001 John Bennett breaks his own world record with a dive to amazing 308 meter. [/i]