First Hydrogen Balloon Flight
- When
- 1783
- Where
- Champ de Mars
- Episodes
- 1
On 27 August 1783 Jacques Charles and the Robert brothers launched the world's first hydrogen-filled balloon from the Champ de Mars in Paris, with Benjamin Franklin and Joseph Montgolfier among the onlookers. The supplied passages do not attest the balloon name 'Le Globe', so it is not used.
Episodes
Background and detail
Background. Jacques Alexandre César Charles was a French inventor, scientist, and balloonist who conceived that hydrogen would be a suitable lifting agent after studying Boyle's Law and the work of Henry Cavendish, Joseph Black, and Tiberius Cavallo. He designed the craft and worked with the Robert brothers, Anne-Jean and Nicolas-Louis, to build it in their Paris workshop.
The Launch. On 27 August 1783, Charles and the Robert brothers launched the world's first hydrogen-filled balloon from the Champ de Mars, now the site of the Eiffel Tower. Benjamin Franklin watched from the crowd, and Joseph Montgolfier released a small green pilot balloon to assess wind and weather conditions.
People involved
- Jacques Charles · Designer and launcher of the hydrogen balloon
- Anne-Jean Robert · Co-builder with Charles in the Place des Victoires workshop
- Nicolas-Louis Robert · Co-builder with Charles in the Place des Victoires workshop
- Benjamin Franklin · Onlooker at the Champ de Mars launch
- Joseph Montgolfier · Released the pilot balloon to assess conditions
Sources
- Jacques Charles Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-29
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.