Auguste and Jean Piccard

	AUGUSTE & JEAN PICCARD Pioneer Aeronauts
	Auguste and Jean Piccard, twin brothers, were born in Basel, Switzerland, on 28 January 1884. Auguste becamse a physicist, and Jean an organic chemist and aeronautical engineer. Auguste, in 1930, devised a spherical aluminum gondola which could be pressurized to approximate sea level pressure, and which was equipped with a system for reusing its own air supply. On 27 May 1931, Auguste and a young assistant ascended from Augsburg, Germany, and reached a record altitude of 15,785 m (51,775 ft). Later, on 18 August 1932, he made a second record-breaking ascent to 16,200 m (53,152 ft). His spectacular high altitude flights contributed substantially to the international body of aeronautical knowledge, and were important technical preliminaries to eventually putting man safely in space. He died in Lausanne, Switzerland, on 24 March, 1962. Jean Piccard moved to the United States in 1926. Following his brother's record high altitude flight, Jean and his wife made an ascension from Dearborn, Michigan, on 23 October 1934 and reached an altitude of 17,672 m (57,979 ft). On this flight, they tested a liquid oxygen system leading to the later development of a liquid oxygen converter for use in balloons and high flying aircraft. In 1936, he developed and launched the first plastic film balloon, and in 1937 made the first manned ascent utilizing multiple balloons. He was also instrumental in the design of polyethylene high altitude balloons which permitted successful manned flights to altitudes in excess of 30,480 m (100,000 ft). His inventiveness continued with the development of a remote pyrotechnic actuating device and frost-free aircraft windows. Jean Piccard retired in 1952, and died in Minneapolis, Minnesota on 28 January 1963.
	Elected to the International Aerospace Hall of Fame 1991