Gustave Hermite (11 June 1863 – 9 November 1914) was a French

aeronaut Aeronautics is the science or art involved with the study, design, and manufacturing of air flight–capable machines, and the techniques of operating aircraft and rockets within the atmosphere. The British Royal Aeronautical Society identifie ...

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 caus ...

, pioneer with

Georges Besançon Georges Besançon (1866–1934) founded and edited the aeronautical journal ''L'Aérophile''. Besançon was a balloonist ("aeronaut") and journalist. Besançon helped train the later-celebrated balloonist Salomon Andrée, probably in the late 18 ...

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 a ...

. He was the nephew of

Charles Hermite Charles Hermite () FRS FRSE MIAS (24 December 1822 – 14 January 1901) was a French mathematician who did research concerning number theory, quadratic forms, invariant theory, orthogonal polynomials, elliptic functions, and algebra. Hermi ...

, 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 of France, Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific me ...

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

, in 1889 built the ''Sirius'' in which they made a trip from Paris to

Le Creusot Le Creusot () is a Communes of France, commune and industrial town in the Saône-et-Loire Departments of France, department, Regions of France, region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, eastern France. The inhabitants are known as Creusotins. Formerl ...

in 16 hours with a stop in the

Yonne Yonne () is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in France. It is named after the river Yonne, which flows through it, in the country's north-central part. One of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté's eight constituent departments, it is lo ...

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 axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distinguish from the Mag ...

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 temperature measurement, 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 merc ...

. 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-discovere ...

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 Bois-Colombes () is a commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. In 2017, it had a population of 28,239. International companies such as Colgate-Palmolive, IBM and Aviva have their French hea ...

, 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