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Globes in the Air
Notes & Quotes
Globes in the Air
Although the Montgolfier brothers are rightly credited with the invention of the hot air balloon, the version used for the first demonstration of the new technology in Paris was designed by a rival scientist (Jacques Charles) and filled with hydrogen. When the unmanned gas balloon landed near Gonesse, just outside the capital, on 27 August 1783, the terrified villagers assumed it was something demonic and set upon it with pitchforks. Anticipating this kind of reaction, the French government had issued the following proclamation to quell public anxiety:
Announcement to the People on the Ascent of Balloons or Globes in the Air
A discovery has been made, which the Government deems it right to be made known, so that alarm be not occasioned to the people.
On calculating the different weights of inflammable and common air, it has been found that a balloon filled with inflammable air* will rise towards heaven until it is in equilibrium with the surrounding air. This may not happen until it has reached a great height.
The first experiment was made at Annonay in Vivrais by the inventors Messieurs Montgolfier; a globe formed of canvas and paper, 105 feet in circumference, filled with inflammable air**, reached an uncalculated height.
The same experiment has just been repeated in Paris (27 August at 5pm) in the presence of a great crowd. A globe of taffeta, covered by elastic gum, 36 feet in circumference, has risen from the Champs de Mars, and been lost to view in the clouds, being borne in a northeasterly direction; it is impossible to foresee where it will descend.
It is proposed to repeat these experiments on a larger scale. Anyone who sees such a globe (which resembles a darkened moon) in the sky should be aware that, far from being an alarming phenomenon, it is only a machine, made of taffeta, or light canvas covered in paper, which cannot possibly cause any harm and which will some day prove serviceable to the wants of society.
* hydrogen.
** the authorities get it wrong here. The Montgolfier balloon had been powered by hot air.
Although the Montgolfier brothers are rightly credited with the invention of the hot air balloon, the version used for the first demonstration of the new technology in Paris was designed by a rival scientist (Jacques Charles) and filled with hydrogen. When the unmanned gas balloon landed near Gonesse, just outside the capital, on 27 August 1783, the terrified villagers assumed it was something demonic and set upon it with pitchforks. Anticipating this kind of reaction, the French government had issued the following proclamation to quell public anxiety:
Announcement to the People on the Ascent of Balloons or Globes in the Air
A discovery has been made, which the Government deems it right to be made known, so that alarm be not occasioned to the people.
On calculating the different weights of inflammable and common air, it has been found that a balloon filled with inflammable air* will rise towards heaven until it is in equilibrium with the surrounding air. This may not happen until it has reached a great height.
The first experiment was made at Annonay in Vivrais by the inventors Messieurs Montgolfier; a globe formed of canvas and paper, 105 feet in circumference, filled with inflammable air**, reached an uncalculated height.
The same experiment has just been repeated in Paris (27 August at 5pm) in the presence of a great crowd. A globe of taffeta, covered by elastic gum, 36 feet in circumference, has risen from the Champs de Mars, and been lost to view in the clouds, being borne in a northeasterly direction; it is impossible to foresee where it will descend.
It is proposed to repeat these experiments on a larger scale. Anyone who sees such a globe (which resembles a darkened moon) in the sky should be aware that, far from being an alarming phenomenon, it is only a machine, made of taffeta, or light canvas covered in paper, which cannot possibly cause any harm and which will some day prove serviceable to the wants of society.
* hydrogen.
** the authorities get it wrong here. The Montgolfier balloon had been powered by hot air.
