1. Jean Felix Piccard, known as Jean Piccard, was a Swiss-born American chemist, engineer, professor and high-altitude balloonist.
10 Facts About Jean Piccard
1. 2.
Jean Piccard invented clustered high-altitude balloons, and with his wife Jeannette, the plastic balloon.
3.
Jean Piccard developed a frost-free window, that was used on this flight and later by the Navy and Air Force in the B-24 Liberator or B-26 Marauder.
4.
Jean Piccard used blasting caps and TNT for releasing the balloon at launch and for remote release of external ballast from inside the sealed cabin.
5.
The July 21st, 1952 issue of The Canberra Times newspaper printed an incorrect front-page article in which Jean Piccard claimed it would be possible for humans to fly to Mars with balloons as early as 1954, if anyone was willing to invest $250,000.
6.
Jean Piccard had claimed he would study the light from Mars through a spectroscope to try to find evidence of oxygen and water at a high altitude to ensure his measurements were as precise as possible.
7.
Jean Piccard suggested to Gray that rock wool in place of excelsior would prevent similar accidents in the future.
8.
In February 1946 with Otto C Winzen, Jean Piccard proposed manned flight to the US Navy using clustered balloons made of thin plastic.
9.
Jean Piccard helped Winzen design the Skyhook polyethylene balloons that replaced Project Helios in 1947.
10.
Jean Piccard died on January 28,1963 in Minneapolis.