Auguste Piccard

Auguste Piccard (28 January 1884 – 24 March 1962) was a Swiss physicist, inventor, and explorer, known for his record-breaking balloon flights to the stratosphere, as well as for his invention of the Bathyscaphe, a vehicle that allowed for deep-sea exploration.

Early Life and Education

Piccard was born in Basel, Switzerland, into a family of Swiss scientists and explorers. His twin brother, Jean Felix Piccard, also became a notable figure in the field of high-altitude ballooning. Piccard studied at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, where he earned his doctorate in Physics in 1909.

Career

Piccard's career was marked by his pioneering work in both the upper atmosphere and the depths of the sea. In 1931, he and his assistant, Paul Kipfer, became the first people to reach the stratosphere, ascending to an altitude of 15,781 meters in a pressurized gondola carried by a hydrogen balloon. This flight, launched from Augsburg, Germany, allowed Piccard to gather valuable data about the stratosphere and cosmic rays.

In the 1940s, Piccard turned his attention to undersea exploration. He developed the bathyscaphe, a submersible vessel that could withstand the extreme pressures of the deep sea. The most famous of these vessels, the Trieste, reached the bottom of the Mariana Trench in 1960, piloted by Piccard's son, Jacques Piccard, and U.S. Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh.

Legacy

Piccard's contributions to the fields of aviation and marine exploration have had a lasting impact. His work paved the way for the development of pressurized cabins in modern aircraft, and his bathyscaphe design has influenced the development of deep-sea submersibles. Piccard's life and work have also been an inspiration for works of fiction, most notably the character of Professor Cuthbert Calculus in The Adventures of Tintin series by Hergé.

See Also

• List of balloon uses
• History of submarines
• Exploration of the High Alps

External Links

• Official Website of the Piccard Family

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