It has been almost two decades since I had my first encounter with Hans Hass and his work. At that time I was all over the district library of our town, being gripped by novels of Jules Verne, William Beebe, and others. Here, I came across a book from which cover the pleasant portrait of Hans Hass with raised diving goggles smiled at me. "Manta – Devil of the Red Sea" was the title of the book, which I soon devoured. It introduced me to the wondrous underwater world of the tropic oceans. I read more books of the same author and in me the wish arose to get to know this wonder world which Hans Hass portrays in his unsurpassed, rousing way. So I became one of his numerous students as certainly many others before and after me. Only every now and then in the following years did I hear about Hans Hass in the news, and when I did, it mainly concerned attempts in prohibiting harpooning or ocean conservation. I also heard that he had retired from the fascinating underwater sports, which, not only to me, seemed incomprehensible and unfortunate.

Then, unexpectedly, our ways crossed a second time. My occupational tasks took me to a seminar during which course I heard the key phrase "energo-cybernetic management theory". Suddenly I was wide-awake. I understood that this theory, which helps companies to increase their economical success, was the practical application of the Energon-Theory, developed by a well-known diving sports pioneer. I was a little irritated. So far I had gotten to know Hans Hass through his books as a person who feels more comfortable in the wet element between sharks and corals rather than dealing with dry, scientific questions. What strong current had taken him to this field, which, at first sight seemed so different to his prior occupation? I gathered more information about Energo-Cybernetics in the university library and also found his thick book "Energon – The Hidden Common Ground" as well as the follow-up book "The Creation Continues". The more I got into and understood the topic the clearer it became to me why the natural scientist Hans Hass had decided to sell his beautiful boat and devote himself to new, essential and substantially further-reaching scientific questions.

The first time we personally met was in January 1989 in Duesseldorf where Hans Hass arranged a big matinee on the occasion of his 70th birthday with "Man and Ocean" as the motto. He introduced his theory of the "Semi Predator" from his new book "The Shark in the Management." This work was a smooth transition from all the previous research he had done and due to my experiences in this area of management theory I was able to understand and benefit from it. Also during this event Hans Hass was confronted with many reporters’ and divers’ critical questions: Why had he left the ocean of which he still talked with such great enthusiasm after all these years and in which he celebrated his first big successes (with the exception of some film journeys) to live in the world of learning? And when would he finally go on expeditions to unknown places again?

In me the idea developed to make this process, so incomprehensible for many of us who had gotten to know Hans Hass through his numerous books and films as the founder of sport diving and modern oceanography with diving equipment, more understandable by writing a biography. As an occasion I chose the pioneer’s 75th birthday. I was aware of the fact that this broad task would not be an easy one. But I got started supported by Hans Hass’ motto "Nevertheless!"

From his youth Hans Hass was fascinated by the unknown and mysterious. At first it was "supernatural questions from the next world" that he tried to answer with the help of pendulums and palmistry. But then, in 1937, he found an even bigger, richer unexplored area: The ocean, shrouded in mystery and dangerous. You have to think back to that time: There were still rumors and legends about sea snakes, dreadful sharks and other monsters of the ocean in many people’s minds. Hans Hass entered the ocean armed with diving goggles and a spear and found a fairytale world that wouldn’t let him go. His friends in Vienna whom he told about his experiences in his own, lively way would not believe him. So in 1938 Hans Hass made his first underwater camera to document his adventures. That was the beginning of modern underwater photography. Photography also increased his talent for observation. He, being a fish among fish, experienced occurrences and correlation that no one else had seen before because, due to sharks and other putative sea monsters, research scientists were too afraid to explore the reefs. At first a sporting daredevil he soon turned to serious scientific work. Already in 1941 Hans Hass developed the first swim diving equipment facilitating free movement on the ocean floor for longer time periods. Prior to that there had been helmet divers who were only able to awkwardly walk upright on the ocean ground. The strong water resistance made moving difficult, often they sunk in the mud and were hardly able to deal with rocky and rugged environments. With this heavy equipment exploring the oceans as started by Hans Hass would have been impossible. His pioneering inventions make him the actual founder of swim diving, a sport practiced by millions of people all around the world today. Even then he predicted a worldwide growth of swim diving and it came true: There is no swim diving without underwater cameras and equipment nowadays. Today, worldwide there are approximately eight million sport divers exploring the world under water and whole industry branches for sports and business have arisen and live off it.

But this has never been Hans Hass’ actual aim. He was the first one to understand the great ocean exploring opportunities offered through using the swim diving equipment. Along with an appropriate research vessel scientists were able to go directly into the coral reef, the focus of their interest. Various events and relationships can only be explored in nature and not in an aquarium as usually done at that time. It was an almost shocking idea sending scientists, mostly older, honorable gentlemen at the time, to shark contaminated areas. The world was different then: Zoologists worked with ground grabs and trawl nets to find out about life beneath the ocean surface. Hans Hass’ main endeavor, to which he dedicated almost twenty years of his life, was to prove that the new exploring method of using swim diving equipment and an accordingly equipped research vessel would bring valuable new scientific discoveries. Discoveries that mostly could not be achieved any other way and despite the presence of dreaded sharks.

From Vienna he moved to Berlin where, with real obsession, he gave over 100 lectures. He wanted to inform people about the true nature of sharks, introduce the new research method, and also collect enough money to equip a research vessel. In 1942 (Hans Hass was only 23 years old!) he was almost there: He was able to buy the Seeteufel owned by Graf Luckner. In the confusion of the last years of war it was impossible to go on an expedition and, unfortunately, the ship was lost at the end of the war. Like millions of other people he was faced with the ruins of his life. His bank account was devaluated and almost all of his equipment was lost.

But Hans Hass did not give up trying to achieve his goal. With an unshakable faith in the feasibility of his dreams and despite all unfavorable circumstances he went back to work and achieved what no one could believe: By his own efforts he bought a ship, equipped it, and went on two long expeditions in the Pacific and the Indian Ocean. The two expeditions on the Xarifa and their scientific results went down in history as the most important event in oceanography and made Hans Hass famous all over the world. On many long expeditions, with up to 22 participants, Hans Hass achieved his mission to be an expedition leader. As an unconventional and brilliant thinker and imaginative go-getter he gave new inspiration to oceanography. To demonstrate his theory of the new swim diving method of oceanography he devoted all his energies, his talent to improvise, as well as immense personal risk. Without any support of public institutions, he had to shoot innumerable films, write books, give lectures, and run up debt to reach his goal. The successful one-man production of many films that were shown in movie theaters and on television demonstrates how an individual, with proper motivation, can have success in an area usually dominated by industry. He won many awards for his underwater films and photography among which was the "Oscar of Underwater Photography." Often, it was not obvious how tightly his actions and projects were connected to scientific opportunities and goals. You will hardly find comparison to Hans Hass, planning and financing both Xarifa expeditions on his own. Scientific expeditions of this magnitude – for example the Calypso expeditions of Cousteau – are usually supported by the government. Here is represented an excellent example, especially for youth, of what a single, dedicated person can achieve. However, in honoring Hans Hass’ performance, the important and creative role of his wife Lotte must not be overlooked. Not only did she contribute to the success of the films but was also a dedicated and accomplished underwater film director and photographer herself. Apart from outstanding acting skills she was a talented writer and authored a book that aroused considerable pubic attention.

The inner restlessness of the research scientist and his urge for knowledge did not let Hans Hass rest on his laurels. He went off to new challenges. His actual interests were the secrets of nature and life – as well as the adventure of exploring unspoiled places.

While working on his doctoral thesis in 1943, which became a milestone for oceanography, he found many concepts in his studies of growth laws of retepors that gave insight into the secret of life and its laws of nature. In the following years, and in spite of filming activities necessary to collect money that did not leave him much time, he researched growth and development laws of biological organizations. He studied coral reefs and atolls and showed regularities in their development. When, in 1958, the doors were opened and it was finally proven that the new research method of using swim diving equipment was possible despite the presence of sharks, he fully dedicated himself to his scientific ambitions. During his expeditions on the Xarifa he had already been thinking about the comparison of human and animal development, the criterion of positive energy balance. This was a kind of interdependence that still had to be explored and was one of his motives to sell the vessel.

Hans Hass had always been attracted to difficult projects and mysteries. That is why it was so characteristic of him not to be tied to his ship but instead to follow his urges. For many years nothing was heard of the "King of the Sharks," what he was often called. Striving and seeking, full of curiosity, he became engrossed in the varieties of nature, specifically those of one of the strangest and most unexplored species on earth, mankind. Hans Hass studied humans objectively, keeping a certain distance just like he did during his many years of underwater research. Impartially, like he used to observe fish and their behavior in coral reefs, he now tried to study people. Their behavior, development, and the systems they created caught his interest. For this reason he developed a certain successful filming method known as "Hass’sche Spiegeltechnik" (Hass’ mirror method), which became a basic tool for documentation programs of today’s humanists.

Hans Hass wanted to resolve, like Goethe once said, the "Holy Mystery." Were there hidden common grounds and general laws of the development of plants, animals, humans and the systems they created? Were we, as humans, right in seeing ourselves as being the creation’s crowning glory? Wasn’t it possible that evolution had surpassed us a long time ago? Systems and evolution research became Hans Hass’ main focus for the following ten years. He replaced ocean caves with the university library in Vienna where he studied various kinds of economics. Introducing his Energon-Theory in 1970, he presented a new hypothesis, founded in biology, of the world and the position of mankind that showed general laws for all development forms based on physical facts. Hans Hass substantiates that organisms and their dependent organizations live off positive energy balance. They have to be efficient to survive. This applies to coral fish and humans as well as businesses. Without a positive energy balance they cannot exist. Hans Hass created the term Energone for energy gaining systems. His lifelong search for correlation and laws is being characterized by more and more detailed and complex questions including that of human evolution.

In the following years Hans Hass worked on extending his theory and gave examples of practical application. He researched life and economy as an energetic phenomenon and described laws and rules based on the Energon-Theory. Research and film expeditions lead him to almost every place on earth. Businesses found his thoughts interesting and Hans Hass became a highly demanded consultant and management trainer. He found a way to apply the results of his evolutionary research to the social behavior of humans and make it usable for businesses. At the same time he became the "Progenitor of Business Management." As a professor at the University of Vienna he gave his energetic mindset to his students. In the following years he developed new thoughts concerning evolution of species based on his previous discoveries.

I would like to write this book as a biography that has more than just one matter of concern. It cannot be a regular biography written like a final report about a person’s life and work, which might make the reader expect stories of the person’s private life, personal interactions and experiences. I would rather like to see this book as a flashback and an account of Hans Hass’ performances and their impact on sports and economy. Also, the question why he left the ocean at times to deal with the evolution of mankind needs to be answered. The biography should clarify that Hans Hass did not change his occupation but consequently followed his urge for knowledge in economic issues. An interesting topic to explore would also be the lack of acceptance and occasionally even refusal of his later works. Could it be because of the one-sided and shadowy impression people had of Hans Hass being an adventurous underwater hero among sharks and talented film producer? One of the focus points of my book will be trying to make this subject understandable. These thematic aspects document the versatile life and work of the tireless laborer and passionate researcher Hans Hass, a man whose life has not been completed yet and who is still going on expeditions to unknown places. Last but not least I wish to document the interesting and exceptional path he followed. Highpoints of his life and research work establish historical moments of swim diving and underwater photography. Through this, even the younger generation of divers can be introduced to the "reckless" beginnings of this sport.

So far, and as I see it, Hans Hass’ life story consists of three big blocks which correspond almost exactly to his three work periods and so mark the three focus points of his work history. The first block is the time from his youth to underwater hunting to oceanography, including creation of a new form of oceanography, such as swim diving and underwater photography. Block number two, which lasted almost 15 years, pragmatically proved the possibility to benefit from the practice of swim diving and using a research vessel as a new oceanography method. This time period was also marked by his first thoughts about the theory of evolution, system research, and evolution of species. The term "synthetic organs" or "additional organs" was sporadically used by Hans Hass even before 1950 but only 20 years later did its philosophy become highly important. At last, his third life phase brings the energetic mindset, closer research of humans and their self-created systems and consequences resulting from this mindset. In this phase Hans Hass warns and urges, as a fighter for preservation of nature and for returning to the origins of mankind.

Obviously, there are no exact boundaries between the three time blocks. The sequence of his scientific development shows great continuity. As an example, the work he did in his later years is a direct consequence from what he did in his earlier work and was frequently indicated even then. In the annex of this book you will find a detailed overview of the most important publications and films of Hans Hass. His name stands for a range of scientific and technical successes that opened the doors to the underwater world to us and helped us understand ourselves better. He has an outstanding personality, always ready to find and show new, cross-boundary methods.

I would be glad if this book helped understanding the works of Hans Hass. At this point I would like to wish him well on his 75^th birthday and also give my personal regards to his wife Lotte. Ant to the two fir trees in front of their house in Liechtenstein I wish healthy, long-lasting growth!