Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
JACQUES ALEXANDRE
CESAR CHARLES
Jacques Alexandre César Charles was born in France in 1746. He
was a scientist who developed many inventions. He is especially
remembered for something he did on August 27, 1783. That day,
Charles launched an enormous balloon that was made of silk that
had been coated with varnish. The balloon was fi lled with hydrogen
gas. When the ropes holding the fl oating balloon were cut, it slowly
ascended (rose) into
the air. The balloon
reached almost 3,000
feet (914 meters)
before it landed just
outside Paris, France.
Unfortunately, the
French peasants did
not know what to make
of the balloon as it
came to the ground.
They destroyed the
balloon, thinking it was
something evil.
Charles built
another balloon. Then,
on December 1, 1783,
he and another man
rode in the balloon,
which ascended to a
height of 1,800 feet
(549 meters). It was
the fi rst time that
human beings had
ever used hydrogen to
get from one place to
another. Charles died
in Paris in 1823.
Jacques Alexandre César Charles and a friend in
Charles's hydrogen balloon, in 1783.