André-Jacques Garnerin

Ballooning

André-Jacques Garnerin was a student of the ballooning pioneer Professor Jacques Charles. Garnerin was heavily involved in the flight of hydrogen balloons, and worked with his older brother, Jean-Baptiste-Olivier Garnerin (1766–1849) in most of his ballooning activities.^[2] His significant contributions to ballooning and his expertise led to his appointment as the Official Aeronaut of France.^[3]

Garnerin began experiments with early parachutes based on umbrella-shaped devices and carried out the first frameless parachute descent (in the gondola) with a silk parachute on 22 October 1797 at Parc Monceau, Paris (1st Brumaire, Year VI of the Republican calendar).^[4] Garnerin's first parachute was made of white canvas^{[citation needed]} with a diameter of approximately 23 feet (7 m).^[5] The umbrella was closed before he ascended, with a pole running down its centre and a rope running through a tube in the pole, which connected it to the balloon.^[4]

Garnerin rode in a basket attached to the bottom of the parachute; at a height of approximately 3,000 feet (1,000 m) he severed the rope that connected his parachute to the balloon.^[4] The balloon continued skyward while Garnerin, with his basket and parachute, fell.^[4] The basket swung violently during descent,^{[Note 1]} then bumped and scraped when it landed, but Garnerin emerged uninjured.^[4]

Garnerin went on to stage regular tests and demonstration of his parachute at Parc Monceau, Paris. On 22 October 1797, his parachute descent became a cause célèbre, particularly when he announced in 1798 that his next flight would include a woman as a passenger. Although the public and press were in favour, Garnerin was forced to justify his project before the officials of the Central Bureau of Police.

They were concerned about the effect that reduced air pressure might have on the organs of the delicate female body and loss of consciousness, plus the moral implications of flying in such close proximity. Unsatisfied with Garnerin's responses, the police issued an injunction against him, forbidding the ascent on the grounds that the young woman was committing herself to the venture without fully understanding the possible outcomes.

After further consultation with both the Minister of the Interior and the Minister of the Police the injunction was overturned on the grounds that "there was no more scandal in seeing two people of different gender ascend in a balloon than it is to see them jump into a carriage." They also agreed that the decision of the woman showed proof of her confidence in the experiment and a degree of personal intrepidity.^[1]

Citoyenne Henri had already been chosen, so when the ban was lifted Garnerin was ready to proceed. He advertised the ascent in L'Ami des Lois (a Parisian newspaper published from 1795 to 1798^[6]) :

The young Citoyenne who will accompany me is delighted to see the day approach for the journey. I shall ascend with her from the Parc Monceau,^{[Note 2]} some time during the next ten days.

On 8 July 1798 a large number of spectators gathered in the Parc Monceau to witness the ascent. By all accounts Citoyenne Henri was young and beautiful, and she and Garnerin took several turns around the park to the applause of the crowd before she was assisted into the basket of the balloon by the astronomer Jérôme Lalande. The balloon trip passed without incident and the journey ended at Goussainville about 30 kilometres (19 mi) to the north of Paris.^{[citation needed]}

Jean-Baptiste-Olivier Garnerin

Unlike his brother, Jean-Baptiste-Olivier Garnerin was called as a witness at the trial of Marie Antoinette. He provided damning testimony that while searching the papers of one M. Septeuil he had discovered "a check [sic] for eighty thousand livres, signed Antoinette, to the profit of ci-devant Polignac... [and] another paper proving that the Prisoner [Marie Antoinette] had sold her diamonds to send their produce to the Emigrants." The papers were passed on to the Committee of Public Safety.^[12]

He later went on to make improvements in the design of his brother's parachutes, notably by reducing their weight and increasing their strength. He also made improvements to equipment for producing gas, and invented a flotation device which enabled his daughter, Élisa, to parachute into the sea near Venice.^[13]

Jeanne Garnerin

His student Jeanne Geneviève Labrosse, who later became his wife, first flew on 10 November 1798, one of the earliest women to fly in a balloon, and on 12 October 1799, she became the first woman to make a parachute descent, from an altitude of 900 meters.^[14]

Élisa Garnerin

His paternal niece Élisa Garnerin, (born 1791),^[15] learned to fly balloons at age 15 and made her first parachute descent in front of the King of Prussia in 1815.^[13] She made 39 professional parachute descents between 1815 and 1836 in Italy, Spain, Russia, Germany, and France.^{[14][16][17][Note 3]}