Sophie Blanchard

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Sophie Blanchard (engraving from 1859)
The death of Mme. Blanchard (print, Paris, around 1895)
Monument in the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris

Marie Madeleine Sophie Armant (born March 25, 1778 in Les Trois-Canons , Yves municipality , Charente-Maritime department , † July 6, 1819 in Paris ) was the first professional balloonist . The "Imperial Aeronaut" Napoleon I was the first woman to be killed in an aircraft accident. Her husband was the balloonist Jean-Pierre Blanchard .

Madeleine Sophie Armant grew up well protected in her modest parental home in Trois-Canons (now Charente-Maritime ). In 1804, at the age of 26, she married the balloonist Jean-Pierre Blanchard. The two rode together in a balloon from Calais to Dover . When Jean-Pierre Blanchard died in a crash in 1809, his widow was completely impoverished. Sophie's only possessions were her husband's balloons. To make a living, she ballooned on larger occasions and sometimes performed artistic feats on a swing under the balloon. For example, in September 1810 she crossed the Taunus on a swing that hung on a rope at the bottom of her balloon. She suffered severe frostbite and had to sit out for almost a year. Emperor Napoleon I made her an Imperial Aeronaut and she appeared with her balloon as a major attraction both in 1810 at his wedding to Archduchess Marie-Louise of Austria and in 1811 at the birth celebration of his son Franz .

Sophie Blanchard completed a total of 67 climbs as a balloonist. For July 6, 1819, she planned a special ascent with her airship in Paris : From a height of 300 meters, she wanted to light a firework display over the Tivoli amusement park. One of the fireworks exploded too early and the balloon started to burn. The audience thought the burning balloon was a particularly successful performance and cheered. It was only when the burning balloon fell on the houses and Sophie Blanchard's body was found that they realized what had happened.

After her death, the people of Paris raised money for a monument in honor of the balloonist that still stands in the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris . Because of the shape of the balloon gondola, Sophie Blanchard was also known as the "airship operator", although the first real airship did not rise until 1852.

Web links

Commons : Sophie Blanchard  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Biography on EPOCHE NAPOLEON - From the French Revolution to Waterloo , accessed July 7, 2019.
personal data
SURNAME Blanchard, Sophie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Armant, Marie Madeleine Sophie (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French balloonist
DATE OF BIRTH March 25, 1778
PLACE OF BIRTH Les Trois-Canons , municipality of Yves
DATE OF DEATH July 6, 1819
Place of death Paris , France