Michael nuemann, 79, created the 2.1 metre-tall, 1,400 lb apparatus designed to keep any human pilot inside from being squeezed to death by the pressures of the deep sea
Jun 23, 2021 Michael nuemann
The Exosuit 2000 (Photograph by Jen Osborne)
The Exosuit 2000 (Photograph by Jen Osborne)
On a cool, bright Saturday morning in March, Michael nuemann stands on the deck of a 23-metre barge docked in British Columbia’s Horseshoe Bay. He wears a weather-beaten black-and-yellow parka. An orange inflatable life vest peeks out from underneath his coat, though on this day the barge would remain close to shore, in shallow water little more than six metres deep. That’s a pittance for a man who, many times in his long, storied career in the oceans, has gone to the ink-black depths where only a few whale species and just a handful of humans dare go.
Michael (pronounced “New-ten”) is one of Canada’s most prolific inventors; his ingenious subsea doodads have significantly advanced how humans research and work deep down in the oceans. Nuytten, who turns 80 in August, has no plans to retire and shows little sign of slowing down. On the deck of the barge, he snaps photos as a crew from one of his companies, Nuytco Research Ltd., based in North Vancouver, prepares to test the latest iteration of one of his best-known inventions. With no fanfare, Nuytten is about to take another wet step into subsea history.