Gustave Hermite
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Gustave Hermite (11 June 1863 – 9 November 1914) was a French aeronaut and
physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate ca ...
, pioneer with Georges Besançon of the
weather balloon A weather balloon, also known as sounding balloon, is a balloon (specifically a type of high-altitude balloon) that carries instruments aloft to send back information on atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity and wind speed by means of ...
. He was the nephew of Charles Hermite, one of the fathers of modern mathematical analysis.


Biography

Gustave Hermite was born in Nancy, France, on 11 June 1863. Fond of sciences, he began studying chemistry in 1884 at the laboratory of the Academy of Neuchâtel in Switzerland, then turned to astronomy. His first communication to the
French Academy of Sciences The French Academy of Sciences (French: ''Académie des sciences'') is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French scientific research. It was at th ...
in 1884 deals with an astronomical telescope of its design. In 1885, he became a member of the Astronomical Society of France. He then embarked on developing inventions and in 1887, he designed and made a rangefinder, then in 1888 a small captive helicopter powered by an electric motor attached to a battery on the ground. In 1889 he began experimenting with heavier than air aviation: small airplanes propelled by rockets or kites used as a means of traction, on water or on ice. On 17 August 1889, he made his first flight in an untethered balloon and, with his friend Georges Besançon, in 1889 built the ''Sirius'' in which they made a trip from Paris to Le Creusot in 16 hours with a stop in the Yonne Department. In 1890–91, Hermite and Besançon planned a flight over the
North Pole The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distingu ...
but the project did not materialize for lack of funding. The two men began then working on high altitude balloons for scientific purposes. In early 1892, they launched a series of small paper balloons filled with gas to become familiar with the technique. On 17 September, the first documented weather balloon in history flew, with a
barometer A barometer is a scientific instrument that is used to measure air pressure in a certain environment. Pressure tendency can forecast short term changes in the weather. Many measurements of air pressure are used within surface weather analysis ...
and a minimum
thermometer A thermometer is a device that measures temperature or a temperature gradient (the degree of hotness or coldness of an object). A thermometer has two important elements: (1) a temperature sensor (e.g. the bulb of a mercury-in-glass thermomete ...
. The ball fell to the ground thanks to a parachute and the instruments could be recovered. Having demonstrated the feasibility of the balloon probe, which he gave the name of weather balloon, and thanks to the support of the Union Aerophile de France, they then launch a series of balloons capable of carrying more than 10,000 meters a nacelle weighing several kilograms containing recording devices which inaugurated a series of international scientific ascents. In 1898
Léon Teisserenc de Bort Léon Philippe Teisserenc de Bort (5 November 1855 in Paris, France – 2 January 1913 in Cannes, France) was a French meteorologist and a pioneer in the field of aerology. Together with Richard Assmann (1845-1918), he is credited as co-discove ...
organized the beginnings of systematic sounding of the atmosphere at the Trappes Observatory of Dynamic Meteorology . Gustave Hermite died on 9 November 1914 in Bois-Colombes, a suburb of Paris.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hermite, Gustave 1863 births 1914 deaths French aviators 19th-century French physicists 19th-century French inventors Atmospheric sounding 20th-century French physicists