Scuba gear?

Question

who invented SCUBA gear, and when?

Answer 1

Actually, the history of SCUBA goes back much farther than you'd think.

If the requirement is providing a self-contained air source to a human under water, then the Greeks were doing that with diving bells around 400BC.  Diving bells, and versions of them, continued for a long time.

The first noted use of compressed air, other than in a submarine, was by William James in the early 1800s.

The first demand regulator showed up in 1865, invented by Benoit Rouquayrol and Auguste Denayrouze.

In the early 1900's, the US Navy was heavily instrumental in diving development, including Yarborough's work on dive tables to prevent DCS.

In the early 1940s, Drager, Cousteau, and Gagnan were responsible for the development of equipment that became modern recreational dive gear.