Professor Auguste Piccard. Professor Piccard, first man to enter the Stratosphere in a balloon, is preparing to explore the ocean depths in a submarine balloon which he calls a bathyscaphe, to a depth of two-and-a-half miles in October.Exclusive rights to Professor Piccard's account of his adventure have been secured by "The Sun."In this, the first of the series, he tells how he and his colleague, Professor Max Cosyns, of Brussels University, are preparing for the perilous descent. September 23, 1947. (Photo by Planet News).