About this episode

The episode discusses the invention of the wetsuit and its impact on surfing, highlighting contributions from Jack O'Neill and a UC Berkeley physicist.

Jack O'Neill is often credited with inventing the first wetsuit and selling it out of one of the nation's first surf shops near San Francisco's Ocean Beach. But many people don't know that a UC Berkeley physicist had a big role in the wetsuit's early invention too. It's an invention that changed the sport of surfing forever. Now, people surf all kinds of cold locations due to the availability of flexible neoprene suits that keep them warm. Additional Resources: The Wetsuit Changed Surfing -- We've Got a Berkeley Physicist to Thank for It Read the transcript for this episode A Bay Curious Adventure: History in Bloom at the Conservatory of Flowers Event Sign up for our newsletter Got a question you want answered? Ask! Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts This story was reported by Gabriela Glueck. Bay Curious is made by Katrina Schwartz, Christopher Beale and Olivia Allen-Price. Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and everyone on Team KQED. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People in this episode

Hosts: Katrina Schwartz, Christopher Beale, Olivia Allen-Price

Topics covered

• surfing
• invention
• history
• cold water sports
• neoprene
• San Francisco

Keywords

• wetsuit
• surfing
• Jack O'Neill
• UC Berkeley
• neoprene
• cold water surfing
• Ocean Beach

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: UC Berkeley

Products: wetsuit, neoprene suits

Places: San Francisco, Ocean Beach

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