What Does SCUBA Stand For? — THE ACRONYM DISCOVERED!

JUMP TO: SCUBA THE ACRONYM / A BRIEF HISTORY / WHY IT’S STILL RELEVANT / WHERE SCUBA IS USED / SCUBA THE WORD

Ever wondered what the word SCUBA means? And why people are always capitalizing it, as though they are shouting at you across an online forum? In this article we dive into the details!

SCUBA is actually an acronym

Although commonly used as a word to describe the sport of scuba diving, the term SCUBA itself actually originated as an acronym:

SCUBA: Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus

In other words, SCUBA is an acronym formed from a description of the equipment first used for the activity!

A brief history of SCUBA the acronym

It is believed that the term was first coined by Christian James Lambertsen – an environmental and diving medicine specialist who worked at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine during the late 1940s.

Dr. Lambertsen designed rebreather systems for US Navy combat divers and is thought to have first coined the term “SCUBA”. Photo credit: Lambertsen Collection.

Dr Lambertsen developed some of the earliest rebreather technologies used by the US Navy’s “frogmen” (combat divers).

Rebreather diving systems capture air that is expelled by the diver and modify it, making it safe to breathe again. Because the air is captured and ‘recycled’, it isn’t expelled into the environment, so no (or very few) bubbles are produced. The bubbles produced by divers often reveal their presence to those above water so, by eliminating these bubbles, the military could dive undetected.

Lambertsen developed a series of patented technologies in the late 1940s using several names, including “breathing apparatus” and “Laru” (for Lambertsen Amphibious Respiratory Unit), but in 1952 he coined the name “SCUBA” (for Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus).

And the acronym is still relevant (even though the technology differs)

These days, the acronym SCUBA is still super relevant. The technology might have improved, but the main premise – that divers are underwater and using self-contained breathing apparatus – still stands.

However, although Lambertsen’s term SCUBA stuck, it wasn’t only his rebreather technologies that shaped modern day SCUBA. In fact, today’s scuba divers tend to use breathing technologies more like those developed in earlier years. For instance, Émile Gagnan and Jacques-Yves Cousteau developed the first open-circuit system (which they termed ‘Aqua-Lung’) back in 1942.

Open-circuit diving doesn’t involve the recycling of air – air that the diver breathes out is expelled into the water (and forms the bubbles we typically see surrounding divers).

Although most recreational divers use open-circuit systems, some undergo specialist training in rebreather systems so that they can get close to marine life and take awesome photos (without pesky bubbles getting in the way!).

Even though most recreational divers today use open-circuit systems instead of rebreathers, the general premise of Lambertsen’s “SCUBA” still stands.

And SCUBA is now used more widely than ever before

Although many early technologies – including those developed by Dr Lambertsen – were motivated by military use, these days scuba diving is used in a vast number of industries for a range of purposes.

Some of the more common applications include:

RECREATION & TOURISM

CONSERVATION

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

PUBLIC SAFETY

SEARCH & RECOVERY

UNDERWATER ARCHAEOLOGY

UNDERWATER MAINTENANCE

Many people learn to scuba dive for recreational purposes, but scuba is used for a wide range of other purposes across a variety of industries.

SCUBA as a word

But these days, use of the term SCUBA has become so commonplace that it recognized as a noun in the dictionary. In the Oxford Dictionary it is defined as:

“the sport or activity of swimming underwater using special breathing equipment consisting of a container of air which you carry on your back and a tube through which you breathe the air”

Not too many acronyms become common words in the dictionary! But the upside of this is that you no longer need to spell SCUBA in uppercase, or even worse, with punctuation after each letter (S.C.U.B.A.). Since now we all know what SCUBA (or scuba?) really is!