Andre-Jacques Garnerin

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Drawing from the parachute descent of André Jacques Garnerin.

André Jacques Garnerin (Paris, France, January 31, 1769 – Paris, August 18, 1823) was a French balloon pilot and paratrooper.

Biography

Garnerin was born in Paris. He was taken prisoner by British troops during the first phase of the Napoleonic Wars (1792–1797), handed over to the Austrians, and held captive in Buda (Hungary) for three years.

He died on August 18, 1823 as a result of being struck on the head by a beam while preparing for a flight in a dirigible balloon.

Parachute jumps

Garnerin, Berlin, 1803.

On October 22, 1797, he unquestionably accomplished the first of many (attested) parachute exhibition jumps from his hydrogen balloon at 1,150-foot altitude. His first jump was made over Paris, France, with thousands of people watching him in Monceau Park. Garnerin's parachute was made of silk and had a support pole that made it look like a huge reinforced umbrella. Standing in a basket at the end of the pole, Garnerin would throw his parachute which would oscillate violently (shake from side to side) because the parachute had no vents, and air had to escape from one side and then the other.

André Jacques Garnerin is regarded as the first true skydiver, having made numerous jumps including one from 8,000 feet (approximately 2,430 meters) above London with a silk bell parachute about 7 meters in diameter.

His wife, Genevieve Labrosee, was the first woman to parachute in 1798. His niece Elisa jumped 40 times between 1815 and 1836.

In 1804, the astronomer Jerôme Lalande, who had witnessed Garnerin's experiments, devised the upper valve or opening, thereby reducing the oscillations.

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