Piccard family

Last updated

The Piccard family are a Swiss family of adventurers, explorers and scientists. They collectively have broken several world records in exploration, particularly with balloons. The Star Trek character Jean-Luc Picard was named in honour of this family. [1] [2]

Members include:

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nadar</span> French photographer and balloonist (1820–1910)

Gaspard-Félix Tournachon, known by the pseudonym Nadar, was a French photographer, caricaturist, journalist, novelist, balloonist, and proponent of heavier-than-air flight. In 1858, he became the first person to take aerial photographs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Auguste Piccard</span> Swiss physicist, inventor, and explorer

Auguste Antoine Piccard was a Swiss physicist, inventor and explorer known for his record-breaking hydrogen balloon flights, with which he studied the Earth's upper atmosphere and became the first person to enter the Stratosphere. Piccard was also known for his invention of the first bathyscaphe, FNRS-2, with which he made a number of unmanned dives in 1948 to explore the ocean's depths.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean Piccard</span>

Jean Felix Piccard, also known as Jean Piccard, was a Swiss-born American chemist, engineer, professor and high-altitude balloonist. He invented clustered high-altitude balloons, and with his wife Jeannette, the plastic balloon. Piccard's inventions and co-inventions are used in balloon flight, aircraft and spacecraft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bertrand Piccard</span> Swiss balloonist and psychiatrist

Bertrand Piccard FRSGS is a Swiss explorer, psychiatrist and environmentalist. Along with Brian Jones, he was the first to complete a non-stop balloon flight around the globe, in a balloon named Breitling Orbiter 3. He was the initiator, chairman, and pilot, with André Borschberg, of Solar Impulse, the first successful round-the-world solar-powered flight. In 2012 Piccard was awarded a Champions of the Earth award by the UN Environment Programme. He is the founder and chairman of the Solar Impulse Foundation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Balloon (aeronautics)</span> Type of aerostat that remains aloft due to its buoyancy

In aeronautics, a balloon is an unpowered aerostat, which remains aloft or floats due to its buoyancy. A balloon may be free, moving with the wind, or tethered to a fixed point. It is distinct from an airship, which is a powered aerostat that can propel itself through the air in a controlled manner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacques Piccard</span> Swiss oceanographer and engineer (1922–2008)

Jacques Piccard was a Swiss oceanographer and engineer, known for having developed underwater submarines for studying ocean currents. In the Challenger Deep, he and Lieutenant Don Walsh of the United States Navy were the first people to explore the deepest known part of the world's ocean, and the deepest known location on the surface of Earth's crust, the Mariana Trench, located in the western North Pacific Ocean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Tracey Coxwell</span> British aeronaut (1819–1900)

Henry Tracey Coxwell was an English aeronaut and writer about ballooning active over the British Isles and continental Europe in the mid-to late nineteenth century. His achievements included having established and led two military balloon companies in Cologne, Germany at the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian war in 1870, leading the first aerial trip in England for purposes of photography, piloting a British Association flight from Wolverhampton, England that achieved a record altitude with James Glaisher in 1862, reaching at least 29,000 ft (8,800 m), and perhaps as high as 35,000 to 37,000 ft, as well as founding The Balloon, or Aerostatic Magazine and collecting his experiences in an autobiography, My Life and Balloon Experiences. He was referred to as the foremost balloonist of the last half of the nineteenth century by the English-language periodical, Illustrated London News, in January 1900.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Don Piccard</span> American balloonist inventor

Donald Louis Piccard was a Swiss-born American balloon pioneer, promoter, innovator, designer, builder, and pilot.

Piccard is a French surname, a variant form of Picard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malcolm Ross (balloonist)</span> 20th-century U.S. Navy Reserve captain, atmospheric scientist, and balloonist

Malcolm David Ross was a captain in the United States Naval Reserve (USNR), an atmospheric scientist, and a balloonist who set several records for altitude and scientific inquiry, with more than 100 hours flight time in gas balloons by 1961. Along with Lieutenant Commander Victor A. Prather (USN), he set the altitude record for a manned balloon flight.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Sadler (balloonist)</span> First Englishman to ascend in a hot-air balloon

James Sadler was the first English balloonist, as well as a chemist and pastry chef.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeannette Piccard</span> American balloonist, scientist, teacher and priest

Jeannette Ridlon Piccard was an American high-altitude balloonist, and in later life an Episcopal priest. She held the women's altitude record for nearly three decades, and according to several contemporaneous accounts was regarded as the first woman in space.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sophie Blanchard</span> French balloonist (1778–1819)

Sophie Blanchard, commonly referred to as Madame Blanchard, was a French aeronaut and the wife of ballooning pioneer Jean-Pierre Blanchard. Blanchard was the first woman to work as a professional balloonist, and after her husband's death she continued ballooning, making more than 60 ascents. Known throughout Europe for her ballooning exploits, Blanchard entertained Napoleon Bonaparte, who promoted her to the role of "Aeronaut of the Official Festivals", replacing André-Jacques Garnerin. On the restoration of the monarchy in 1814 she performed for Louis XVIII, who named her "Official Aeronaut of the Restoration".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Wise (balloonist)</span> American balloonist

John Wise was a pioneer in the field of ballooning. He made over 400 flights during his lifetime and was responsible for several innovations in balloon design. His balloon, The Jupiter carried 123 letters to make the first official airmail delivery run for the US Post Office in 1859.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean-Luc Picard</span> Fictional character from the Star Trek franchise

Jean-Luc Picard is a fictional character in the Star Trek franchise, most often seen as the captain of the Federation starship USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D). Played by Patrick Stewart, Picard has appeared in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG) and the premiere episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, as well as the feature films Star Trek Generations (1994), Star Trek: First Contact (1996), Star Trek: Insurrection (1998), and Star Trek: Nemesis (2002). He is also featured as the central character in the show Star Trek: Picard (2020–2023).

Picard is a surname meaning a person from Picardy, a historical region and cultural area of France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Balloonomania</span> 18th and 19th century interest in balloons

Balloonomania was a strong public interest or fad in balloons that originated in France in the late 18th century and continued into the 19th century, during the advent of balloon flights. The interest began with the first flights of the Montgolfier brothers in 1783. Soon afterwards Jacques Alexandre César Charles flew another type of balloon and both types of balloon were in use from then on. The fad quickly spread in France and across the channel in England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jules Piccard</span> Swiss chemist (1840–1933)

Jules Piccard, also known as Julius Piccard was a Swiss chemist. He was the father of twins Auguste Piccard (1884–1962) and Jean Felix Piccard (1884–1963), both renowned balloonists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vera Simons</span> German-American inventor and artist

Vera Simons (1920–2012) was an inventor, artist, and balloonist. She became known in the 1950s and 1960s as a leader in high altitude gas balloon development and exploration, belonging to a group of pioneers known as the "Pre-Astronauts."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eleanor Vadala</span> American chemist, materials engineer and balloonist (1923–2023)

Eleanor Vadala was an American chemist, materials engineer and balloonist. She became director of research and development at the Naval Air Development Center in Pennsylvania, where she helped to develop light synthetic materials for use in aircraft. One of her jobs was the testing of fabric in existing balloons to ensure they could be used safely.

References

  1. University of California, Berkeley et al. [and informal sources on Jean Picard talk page] (2003). "Living With A Star: 3: Balloon/Rocket Mission: Scientific Ballooning". The Regents of the University of California. Archived from the original on 2010-06-26. Retrieved 2018-09-14.
  2. Flatow, Ira; Giron, Arthur; Piccard, Elizabeth (23 January 2004). "Talk of the Nation Science Friday" (mp3). NPR (Podcast). Proshansky Auditorium, Graduate Center, CUNY: National Public Radio. Event occurs at 25:30–25:59 and 27:24–27:41. Retrieved 2 February 2018.