Andre-Jacques Garnerin, Parachute Pioneer, 1797
Print shows Garnerin, first man to descend in a parachute, standing in the gondola of his parachute waving a French flag after release from his balloon (shown deflated at left). Andre-Jacques Garnerin (January 31, 1769 - August 18, 1823) was a balloonist and inventor of the frameless parachute. A student of the ballooning pioneer professor Jacques Charles, he was involved with the flight of hot air balloons, and worked with his brother Jean-Baptiste-Olivier Garnerin in most of his ballooning activities. He began experiments with early parachutes based on umbrella-shaped devices and carried out the first parachute descent (in the gondola) with a silk parachute on October 22, 1797 at Parc Monceau, Paris. He visited England in 1802, with his wife Jeanne Genevieve, during the Peace of Amiens and the couple completed a number of demonstration flights. He died in 1823, at the age of 54, in a construction accident when he was hit by a beam while making a balloon in Paris
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1797 Aeronaut Ballooning Balloonist Epromo06052019 Garnerin Monceau Parachute Parachuting Parc
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