Jeannette Piccard
Jeannette Ridlon Piccard (born January 5, 1895 in Chicago , † May 17, 1981 in Minneapolis ) was an American balloonist who in 1934 became the first woman to enter the stratosphere . She was temporarily a consultant to NASA and in 1974 was one of the "Philadelphia Eleven", eleven women who were ordained among the first priestesses of the American Episcopal Church .
Life
education
Jeannette Ridlon was the daughter of an orthopedic surgeon . She completed her undergraduate studies at Bryn Mawr College with a degree in philosophy and psychology and then studied organic chemistry at the University of Chicago . It was there that Ridlon met her future husband Jean Piccard and received her master's degree in 1919 . - She received her PhD from the University of Minnesota in 1942 .
Balloon rides
Jean Piccard taught at the University of Lausanne from 1919 and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) from 1926, and took American citizenship in 1931. Like his twin brother, he occupied himself with balloon flights to great heights. Auguste Piccard had developed a spherical, closed gondola for great heights. As the first person in the stratosphere, he reached an altitude of 15,781 meters with Paul Kipfer in 1931 and 16,201 meters in the following year with Max Cosyns. [16,940 m]
Thanks to a recommendation from his brother, Jean Piccard was able to design the high-altitude balloon of the same name for the world exhibition A Century of Progress . With this, the officers Settle and Fordney screwed the altitude record to 18,665 meters (61,237 feet) in November 1933. Since Jean Piccard did not have an American pilot license and wanted to take on scientific tasks during a record flight, Jeannette Piccard completed her training as a balloonist. In July 1934, the National Aeronautic Association granted her the first female balloon pilot license in the United States. However, as a result, the National Geographic Society and important companies withdrew from the project. As the only official sponsors were People's Outfitting and Grunow Radio won. As the “scientific director” of the trip, Jean Piccard focused on the payload for investigations and experiments up to the capacity limit of the balloon, which almost ruled out an absolute height record.
On the morning of October 23, 1934, the Piccards started with “Century of Progress” on the airfield near Dearborn , which Henry Ford had made available as a launch site. Jeannette Piccard steered the gas balloon into the stratosphere under difficult circumstances because it had to pass through a layer of cloud. The landing near Cadiz, Ohio was also problematic, as the cover was lost when landing between elms and oaks . Piccard had set an unofficial height record for women at 17,550 meters (57,579 feet).
In June 1963 this was surpassed by the cosmonaut Valentina Vladimirovna Tereschkowa . As the first woman in space , she is also the only one who flew alone. Although balloons reached heights of 22 and 30 kilometers ( Manhigh II) in 1935 and 1957 , Piccard's balloon record for women has not been surpassed to this day. In October 2014, Google manager Alan Eustace reached an altitude of 41.4 kilometers and jumped off with a parachute .
job
Jean Piccard received a temporary professorship at the University of Minnesota in 1936, which was only converted into a six-year permanent position in 1946. He developed very thin balloon envelopes made of polyethylene and was involved in the development of unmanned altitude research balloons. Jeannette Piccard supported him in his research, but also worked briefly in 1943 for the Civil Defense Department of Minnesota . In 1946/47 the couple had a consultancy contract to prepare a stratospheric trip with a cluster balloon . However, the project failed because of incompatible ideas on both sides.
Jean Piccard died on January 28, 1963, the day of his 79th birthday. His widow received a consultancy contract from NASA from 1964 to 1970.
Pastor and death
Jeannette Piccard turned to theology and became a deacon in the Episcopal Church in 1971 . Attending the general theological seminary in 1973 was certified. The following year she was in Philadelphia with ten other women among the first priests of the Episcopal Church consecrated . The ordination of the "Philadelphia Eleven" violated canon law and was declared invalid. Two years later, the Episcopal Church decided to allow women to be ordained. In the following year, 1977, the ordinations of the eleven women were recognized retrospectively. Piccard worked as an assistant to a priest in Saint Paul, Minnesota, until her death .
Jeannette Piccard died of cancer on May 17, 1981 in Minneapolis.
The couple had three sons, of whom Don Piccard (* 1926) is one of the country's leading balloon athletes . As a pioneer of hot air ballooning , he crossed the English Channel with Ed Yost in April 1963 .
Honors
Both Piccards were posthumously inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame in 1998. This Hall of Fame is located in the New Mexico Museum of Space History in Alamogordo and honors those who have made significant contributions to the development of space travel . Jeannette Piccard received a number of other honors.
Trivia
One of the Piccard's pets, the turtle Fleur-de-Lys , took part in the record run.
Web links
- FAI : JEANNETTE PICCARD. BLAZING A TRAIL TO THE STRATOSPHERE . (English; as of March 26, 2019)
- Collections of The Henry Ford: documents and photos to record run in 1934 (English)
literature
- The Piccard Stratosphere Flight . Without a place [1934].
Footnotes
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Piccard, Jeannette |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Piccard, Jeannette Ridlon (full name); Ridlon, Jeannette (maiden name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American balloon pilot, first woman in the stratosphere |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 5, 1895 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Chicago , Illinois |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 17, 1981 |
| Place of death | Minneapolis |