Montgolfier

Montgolfier by Mrs. Stone

http://inventors.about.com/od/astartinventions/ss/airship_2.htm

The Montgolfier Brothers are credited with the FIRST HUMAN FLIGHT! They did this in 1787 in France. This had a major impact on aviation history because we usually think that the Montgolfier Balloon is the start of manned flight. In 1787 in France things were starting to get crazy and it's only a few years before the French revolution started. The pilot of the balloon was a scientist named Jaques Charles and if you had chemistry you will recognize him from Charles' Law for gases. Charles was really an expert on heating gases and that was key to getting the balloon to take off! (Yeah for Chemistry!). The picture shows their flight in Paris (In front of Versailles Castle) and as you can see from the drawing, lots of people came to the takeoff and it was a really big deal!