Joseph-Michel Montgolfier (26 August 1740 – 26 June 1810) and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier (6 January 1745 – 2 August 1799) were the inventors of the montgolfière style hot air balloon, globe aérostatique or airship. The brothers succeeded in launching the first manned ascent, carrying a young physician, Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier, and an audacious army officer, François Laurent d'Arlandes, into the sky. Later, in December 1783 in recognition...
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Joseph-Michel Montgolfier (26 August 1740 – 26 June 1810) and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier (6 January 1745 – 2 August 1799) were the inventors of the montgolfière style hot air balloon, globe aérostatique or airship. The brothers succeeded in launching the first manned ascent, carrying a young physician, Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier, and an audacious army officer, François Laurent d'Arlandes, into the sky. Later, in December 1783 in recognition of their achievement, their father Pierre was elevated to the nobility and the hereditary appellation of de Montgolfier by King Louis XVI of France.
The brothers were born into a family of paper manufacturers in Annonay, in Ardèche, France. Their parents were Pierre Montgolfier (1700-1793), and his wife Anne Duret (1701-1760), who had sixteen children. Pierre established his eldest son Raymond Montgolfier, later Raymond de Montgolfier (1730-1792) as his successor.
Joseph, the 12th child, possessed a typical inventor's temperament—a maverick...
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