Talk:Montgolfier brothers
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
Montgolfier brothers is within the scope of WikiProject France, an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed guide to France and Monaco on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please join the project and help with our open tasks. | |
 |
||
| ??? | This article has not yet received a rating on the quality scale. Please rate the article and then leave a short summary here to explain the ratings and/or to identify the strengths and weaknesses. | |
Looking round numerous websites, it seems there is confusion about the date of the first manned and unmanned ascent. I think April 4, 1783 might be unmanned, June 5 manned. Also there is wide variation on the Net of the statistics associated with the events, such as balloon volume, distance, height of ascent etc. PW
Also, the first flight across the English Channel was in a hydrogen balloon... which was invented by Jacques-Alexandre-César Charles, about whom there is no article. The hydrogen balloon was used extensively for the next 200 years, while the hot air balloon floated into obscurity until the discovery of propane. -Ryan Callahan
Hey, wouldn't it be fun to try a hot hydrogen balloon - lotsof hydrogen heated by a propane burner! ;)
Funny you should mention it, Pilâtre de Rozier actually died in hybrid balloon except of course that the flame was not meant to heat the hydrogen...
How high was high?
In one paragraph you mention De Rozier flying at 10,000 metres over paris. That's in excess of 30,000 feet --- impossible. Lowe only made 20,000 feet 80 years later.
[edit] Francesco Lana de Terzi
IMHO we should mention Francesco Lana Terzi, the father of Aeronautics http://www.faculty.fairfield.edu/jmac/sj/scientists/lana.htm User:Jack 00:24 Jan 2007
[edit] ===============================================================================
I was working on the Dutch lemma the other day and gathered some information. I think the French Wikipedia is best informed on the subject, the German Wikipedia is also in trouble on that particular subject, but there is a book by :
- Schama, S. (1989) Citizens. A Chronicle of the French Revolution, p 123-31; 884-5.
Simon Schama writes very literary about the Montgolfier brothers and the balloons, but is using only French sources. His account is very interesting, funny and looks reliable.
I assume one of the authers, working on this lemma, was using a book in French on the subject, or:
- Gillispie, C.G. (1983) The Montgolfier brothers and the invention of aviation, 1783-1784 : with a word on the importance of ballooning for the science of heat and the art of building railroads. Princeton, N.J, Princeton University Press.
But Schama does not mention it for some reason, and I have not read it yet. Taksen 08:42, 27 February 2007 (UTC)
