Max Cosyns (29 May 1906 – 30 March 1998) was a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...

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 ...

, inventor,

explorer Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

and

speleologist Speleology is the scientific study of caves and other karst features, as well as their make-up, structure, physical properties, history, life forms, and the processes by which they form ( speleogenesis) and change over time (speleomorphology ...

Early life and education

Max Cosyns was

Auguste Piccard Auguste Antoine Piccard (28 January 1884 – 24 March 1962) was a Swiss physicist, inventor and explorer known for his record-breaking hydrogen balloon flights, with which he studied the Earth's upper atmosphere. Piccard was also known for his ...

's assistant at the Université Libre de Bruxelles and on 18 August 1932 participated in the record-breaking ascent into the

stratosphere The stratosphere () is the second layer of the atmosphere of the Earth, located above the troposphere and below the mesosphere. The stratosphere is an atmospheric layer composed of stratified temperature layers, with the warm layers of air ...

to 16,200 m (53,152ft), launched from

Dübendorf Dübendorf is a municipality in the district of Uster in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. It is a suburb of Zürich in Switzerland with a population of about 30,000 (2021). It is the fourth largest city in the canton, after Zürich, Winte ...

, Switzerland. For this he was awarded the Cross of Knight of the Order of Leopold by the Belgian King in 1932.

Career

On 18 August 1934 Cosyns together with his student Nérée van der Elst piloted a balloon to an altitude of 52,952 feet. Following a take off from Hour-Havenne in Belgium, they flew over Germany and

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

before landing near the village of

Ženavlje Ženavlje (; hu, Gyanafa, Prekmurje Slovene: ''Ženavle'') is a village in the Municipality of Gornji Petrovci in the Prekmurje region of Slovenia. Ženavlje is known as the unplanned landing site of a stratospheric balloon with the Belgian pione ...

(now in

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, and ...

). They were unsuccessful in maintaining satisfactory radio communication with ground, but were able to make observations of the

currents Currents, Current or The Current may refer to: Science and technology * Current (fluid), the flow of a liquid or a gas ** Air current, a flow of air ** Ocean current, a current in the ocean *** Rip current, a kind of water current ** Current (stre ...

in the stratosphere as well as investigate the nature of the

cosmic ray Cosmic rays are high-energy particles or clusters of particles (primarily represented by protons or atomic nuclei) that move through space at nearly the speed of light. They originate from the Sun, from outside of the Solar System in our ow ...

s. They failed to beat the height record, but stated on landing that they were fully satisfied with their discoveries. A large bronze monument in the shape of a balloon was erected in 1997 on the spot of their landing in Ženavlje to commemorate the event.

Second World War resistance

In the Second World War he joined the Resistance and was imprisoned in

Dachau concentration camp Dachau () was the first concentration camp built by Nazi Germany, opening on 22 March 1933. The camp was initially intended to intern Hitler's political opponents which consisted of: communists, social democrats, and other dissidents. It is ...

. After the war he was co-director of the

FNRS-2 The ''FNRS-2'' was the first bathyscaphe. It was created by Auguste Piccard. Work started in 1937 but was interrupted by World War II. The deep-diving submarine was finished in 1948. The bathyscaphe was named after the Belgian Fonds Nation ...

bathyscaphe A bathyscaphe ( or ) is a free-diving self-propelled deep-sea submersible, consisting of a crew cabin similar to a bathysphere, but suspended below a float rather than from a surface cable, as in the classic bathysphere design. The float is ...

expedition in

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital and largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 3.94 million in ...

in 1948. In 1952 he was in charge of the speleological expedition to the Gouffre de la Pierre-Saint-Martin cave system in the

Pyrenees The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to ...

. The French speleologist

Marcel Loubens Marcel may refer to: People * Marcel (given name), people with the given name Marcel * Marcel (footballer, born August 1981), Marcel Silva Andrade, Brazilian midfielder * Marcel (footballer, born November 1981), Marcel Augusto Ortolan, Brazilian s ...

, died in an accident with an electric hoist during the ascent after spending four days in the cave when the steel cable snapped. Cosyns as head of the expedition and due to his involvement in the design of the

winch A winch is a mechanical device that is used to pull in (wind up) or let out (wind out) or otherwise adjust the tension of a rope or wire rope (also called "cable" or "wire cable"). In its simplest form, it consists of a spool (or drum) attac ...

was considered responsible for the accident.

Personal life

Cosyns married fellow Resistance member, lawyer and communist Andrée Grandjean.

Notes

External links

CIA notable flights and achievements Part 6, 1926–1950
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cosyns, Max Belgian balloonists Belgian explorers Belgian physicists 1906 births 1998 deaths Flight altitude record holders Belgian aviation record holders