Sunday, September 20, 2026

Question: In 1951, a University of California physicist set out to improve diving equipment for U.S. Navy frogmen. His neoprene invention went on to become essential gear for divers. What was it?

Answer: The wetsuit. Hugh Bradner, a physicist working at UC Berkeley, began pioneering research on the wetsuit in 1951, using a material known as neoprene. His designs were later tested by scientific divers affiliated with Scripps Institution of Oceanography.