Jean-Pierre Blanchard

{{Short description|French inventor (1753–1809)}} {{more citations needed|date=January 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Jean-Pierre Blanchard | image = Jean Pierre Blanchard.jpg | caption = A portrait of Blanchard by [[Richard Livesay]] | birth_name = | birth_date = 4 July 1753 | birth_place = [[Les Andelys]], [[France]] | death_date = {{Death date and age|1809|3|7|1753|7|4|df=y}} | death_place = [[The Hague]], [[Kingdom of Holland|Holland]] | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | other_names = | known_for = [[balloon (aircraft)|Ballooning]] | education = | employer = | occupation = Inventor | title = | height = | term = | predecessor = | successor = | party = | boards = | spouse = Victoire Lebrun {abandoned} [[Sophie Blanchard|Marie Madeleine-Sophie Armant]] | partner = | children = | parents = | relatives = | signature = | website = | footnotes = }}

'''Jean-Pierre François Blanchard''' ({{IPA|fr|ʒɑ̃ pjɛʁ blɑ̃ʃaʁ}}; 4 July 1753 – 7 March 1809) was a French inventor, best known as a pioneer of [[gas balloon|gas]] [[balloon (aircraft)|balloon]] flight, who distinguished himself in the conquest of the air in a balloon. Notable for his successful hydrogen balloon flight in Paris on 2 March 1784, Blanchard later moved to London and undertook flights with varying propulsion mechanisms. His historic achievement came on 7 January 1785, crossing the [[English Channel]] from [[Dover Castle]] to [[Guînes]] in about 2½ hours, receiving acclaim from [[Louis XVI]] and earning a substantial pension.

Touring Europe, Blanchard demonstrated his balloons and showcased the modern [[parachute]], which he later used for a successful escape in 1793 when his [[Gas balloon|hydrogen balloon]] ruptured. Also in 1793, he conducted the first balloon flight in the Americas, witnessed by President [[George Washington]]. Married to [[Sophie Blanchard]] in 1804, Blanchard suffered a fatal heart attack in his balloon in 1808, with his widow continuing balloon demonstrations until her accidental death.

==Biography== ===1784 – Flights in Paris=== Blanchard made his first successful balloon flight in [[Paris]] on 2 March 1784, in a hydrogen [[gas balloon]] launched from the [[Champ de Mars]]. The first successful manned balloon flight took place on 21 November 1783, when [[Pilâtre de Rozier]] and the [[Marquis d'Arlandes]] took off at the [[Palace of Versailles]] in a free-flying [[hot air balloon]] constructed by the [[Montgolfier brothers]]. The first manned hydrogen balloon flight took place on 1 December 1783, when [[Jacques Charles]] and [[Robert brothers|Nicolas-Louis Robert]] launched the first [[gas balloon]] from the [[Tuileries Palace|Jardin des Tuileries]] in Paris. Blanchard's flight nearly ended in disaster, when one spectator (Dupont de Chambon, a contemporary of [[Napoleon]] at the École militaire de Brienne) slashed at the balloon's mooring ropes and oars with his sword after being refused a place on board. Blanchard intended to "row" northeast to [[La Villette, Seine|La Villette]] but the balloon was pushed by the wind across the [[Seine]] to [[Boulogne-Billancourt|Billancourt]] and back again, landing in the rue de Sèvres. Blanchard adopted the Latin tag {{lang|la|[[Sic itur ad astra]]}} as his [[motto]].{{citation needed|date=August 2019}}

The early balloon flights triggered a phase of the public "[[balloonomania]]", with all manner of objects decorated with images of balloons or styled ''au ballon'', from ceramics to fans and hats. Clothing ''au ballon'' was produced with exaggerated puffed sleeves, rounded skirts, or with printed images of balloons. Hair was coiffed ''à la montgolfier'', ''au globe volant'', ''au demi-ballon'', or ''à la Blanchard''.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.aviation.technomuses.ca/pdf/Ballons_e.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2007-07-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080229022811/http://www.aviation.technomuses.ca/pdf/Ballons_e.pdf |archive-date=2008-02-29 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===1784 – Flights in London=== Blanchard moved to London in August 1784, where he took part in a flight on 16 October 1784 with [[John Sheldon (anatomist)|John Sheldon]], just a few weeks after the first flight in Britain (and first outside France), when Italian [[Vincenzo Lunardi]] flew from [[Moorfields]] to [[Ware, Hertfordshire|Ware]] on 15 September 1784. Blanchard's propulsion mechanisms – flapping wings and a windmill – again proved ineffective, but the balloon flew some {{convert|115|km}} from [[Lewis Lochée]]'s military academy in [[Little Chelsea]], landing in [[Sunbury-on-Thames|Sunbury]] and then taking off again to end in [[Romsey]]. Blanchard took a second flight on 30 November 1784, taking off with an American, [[John Jeffries]], from the [[wikt: rhedarium|Rhedarium]] behind [[Green Street, Mayfair|Green Street]]<ref>"The Rhedarium had been built as military stables in 1738 and then sold, in 1784, to be used as a coach manufact by a Mr. Murdoch MacKenzie." (Blog: ''The Early London Gas Industry: The Rhedarium''); see [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=42132 ''The Survey of London,'', vol 40: The Green Street Area, Introduction], and [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=42138 ''ibid'' "Wood's Mews"].</ref> [[Mayfair|Mayfair, London]] to [[Ingress, Kent|Ingress]] in [[Kent]].

===1785 – First flight over the English Channel=== {{multiple image | direction = horizontal | total_width= 310 | header = Blanchard's Column at [[Guînes]] | footer = A column was erected at [[Guînes]] to commemorate his crossing of the English Channel by hydrogen balloon on 7 January 1785. (Location:{{coord|50.841997365|N|1.867341242|E|format=dms|name=Jean-Pierre Blanchard|display=inline}})

{{center|1=Under the reign of Louis XVI MDCCLXXXV Jean-Pierre Blanchard of Les Andelys in Normandy accompanied by [[John Jeffries|Jean Jefferies English]] (''[[sic]]'') Leaving from Dover Castle in an Aerostat. January 7th at a quarter past one, was the first to cross the air above Pas-de-Calais and descended after three and a quarter hours in the very place where the inhabitants of Guines raised this column to the glory of the two travellers. These aeronauts were received on their descent by P. Eliz Casin d'Honnincthun and Louis Marie Dufosse. and taken to the castle of M.Le Vicomte Desandrouin Chamberlain of the Emperor who laid the stone of this column on May 25, 1785.{{refn|Original text of Blanchard's Column at [[Guînes]]: Sous le régné de Louis XVI MDCCLXXXV, Jean-Pierre Blanchard des Andelys en Normand, Accompagne de Jean Jefferies Anglais, Partit du chateau de Douvre dans un Aérostat, Le VII Janvier a une heure un quart, traversa le prémier les airs au dessus de Pas-de-Calais, et descendit de trois heures trois quarts dans le lieux même ou les habitants de Guînes. Ont élevé cette colonne À la gloire des deux voyageurs. Ces aeronauts en été recus à leur descent par P. Eliz Casin d'Honnincthun et Louis Marie Dufossé, Et conduits au château de M.Le Vicomté Desandrouin, Chambellan de L'Empereur qui a posé la pierre de cette colonne le 25 Mai 1785.|group=Note}}}}

| image1 = guines-blanchard01.JPG | alt1 = | caption1 =

| image2 = guines-blanchard02.JPG | alt2 = | caption2 = }}

A third flight, again with Jeffries, was the first flight over the [[English Channel]], taking about 2½ hours to travel from England to France on 7 January 1785,<ref name="EB">[http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9015591 Blanchard, Jean-Pierre-François]. {{subscription required}} ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'' Online. Retrieved 2009-10-17.</ref><ref name="Morison">{{Cite book |last=Morison |first=Samuel Eliot |author-link=Samuel Eliot Morison |year=1965 |title=The Oxford History of the American People |location=New York |publisher=Oxford |page=286 }}</ref><ref name="HistoryChannel">{{cite web |url=https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/across-the-english-channel-in-a-balloon |title=1785: Across the English Channel in a balloon |author= |date= |website=[[The History Channel]] |access-date=27 May 2018 }}</ref> flying from [[Dover Castle]] to [[Guînes]]. Blanchard was awarded a substantial pension by Louis XVI. The King ordered the balloon and boat be hung up in the church of [[Église Notre-Dame de Calais]].<ref>{{cite news |author= |title=Canterbury. Extract of an authentic Letter from Dover. Jan. 20, 1785. |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000235/17850122/010/0004|newspaper=Kentish Gazette |location=England |date=22 January 1785 |access-date=13 November 2017 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription }}</ref> (A subsequent Channel crossing attempt in the opposite direction by [[Pilâtre de Rozier]] on 15 June 1785 ended unsuccessfully in a fatal crash.){{sfn |Holmes |2008 |pp=148−155}}

===Flights in Europe=== Blanchard toured Europe, demonstrating his balloons. He holds the record of first balloon flights in Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, and Poland. Among the events that included demonstrations of his abilities as a balloonist was the coronation of Holy Roman Emperor [[Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor|Leopold II]] as [[King of Bohemia]] in [[Prague]] in September 1791.{{citation needed|date=January 2020}}

Following the invention of the modern [[parachute]] in 1783 by [[Sébastien Lenormand]] in [[France]], in 1785 Jean-Pierre Blanchard demonstrated it as a means of jumping safely from a balloon. While Blanchard's first parachute demonstrations were conducted with a dog as the passenger, he later had the opportunity to try it himself when in 1793 his hydrogen balloon ruptured and he used a parachute to escape. Subsequent development of the parachute focused on making it more compact. While the early parachutes were made of linen stretched over a wooden frame, in the late 1790s, Blanchard began making parachutes from folded silk, taking advantage of silk's strength and light weight.

===1793 – Flights in America=== On 9 January 1793, Blanchard conducted the first balloon flight in the Americas.<ref name=Beischer1962>{{cite journal |author1=Beischer, DE |author2=Fregly, AR |title=Animals and man in space. A chronology and annotated bibliography through the year 1960. |journal=US Naval School of Aviation Medicine |volume=ONR TR ACR-64 |issue=AD0272581 |year=1962 |url=http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/9288 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121204154830/http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/9288 |url-status=usurped |archive-date=December 4, 2012 |access-date=2011-06-14}}</ref> He launched his balloon from the prison yard of [[Walnut Street Jail]] in [[Philadelphia]], [[Pennsylvania]] and landed at the [[Clement Oak]] in [[Deptford Township, New Jersey]]. One of the flight's witnesses that day was President [[George Washington]], and the future presidents [[John Adams]], [[Thomas Jefferson]], [[James Madison]], and [[James Monroe]] were also present. Blanchard left the United States in 1797.{{citation needed|date=January 2020}}

==Personal life and death== He married Marie Madeleine-Sophie Armant (better known as [[Sophie Blanchard]]) in 1804. On 20 February 1808 Blanchard had a [[heart attack]] while in his balloon at [[The Hague]]. He fell from the balloon and died roughly a year later on 7 March 1809 due to severe injuries. His widow continued to support herself with ballooning demonstrations until doing so also killed her.<ref>Her death is described in detail, with multiple citations, in the Wikipedia article about her.</ref>

== Pictures ==

<gallery> File:Airship designed by 6395w824r 0 0c483k63k.tiff | Airship designed by Jean-Pierre Blanchard, 1784 Image:Early flight 02562u (7).jpg|Crossing of the [[English Channel]] by Blanchard and Jeffries on 7 January 1785. Image:BlanchardChannelFlight.jpg|Crossing of the [[English Channel]] by Blanchard in 1785. File:Goal in Walnut Street Philadelphia Birch's views plate 24 (cropped).jpg|[[Walnut Street Jail]], Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Blanchard launched his 9 January 1793 American flight from the prison yard. File:La 14e expérience aérostatique de Monsieur Blanchard accompagné du Chevalier Lépinard, Lille, 26 août 1785.jpg|La 14e expérience aérostatique de Monsieur Blanchard accompagné du Chevalier Lépinard, Lille, 26 août 1785, painting by [[Louis Joseph Watteau]] File:Blanchard Crossing English Channel.jpg|Blanchard and Jeffries Crossing the English Channel in 1785 </gallery>

==See also== * [[List of firsts in aviation]] * [[Timeline of hydrogen technologies]]

==Notes== {{reflist|group=Note}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

* {{cite book|last=Holmes |first=Richard |title=The age of wonder. | publisher=Vintage Books|location=New York |date=2008|isbn=978-1-4000-3187-0}}

==External links== {{Commons category}} *[https://archive.org/details/fortyfifthasc00blanrich Journal of Jean-Pierre Blanchard's forty-fifth ascension, being the first performed in America, on January 9, 1793 (1918)] * [http://www.normandythenandnow.com/the-rampant-ambition-of-blanchard-the-balloonist-from-petit-andelys/ Further information with images about Blanchard's life and flight across the Channel] {{AHOFONJ}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blanchard, Jean-Pierre}} [[Category:1753 births]] [[Category:1809 deaths]] [[Category:People from Les Andelys]] [[Category:French balloonists]] [[Category:French aviation pioneers]] [[Category:History of ballooning]] [[Category:18th-century French inventors]] [[Category:Balloon flight record holders]] [[Category:French aviation record holders]] [[Category:Accidental deaths from falls in the Netherlands]]