History of hot air balloons
The beginnings
The balloons were in his time, the most significant inventions of flying machines of humans, their importance lies in the fact that it is impossible that men had to rise from the surface of the Earth moving and traveling by air.
Recent investigations have shown that 8 August 1709, the Brazilian priest Bartolomeu de Gusmao made the first ascent demonstration of aerial unmanned hot air balloon in the House of Indies Lisbon court of King John V of Portugal. He was persecuted by the Inquisition for witchcraft.
Les first ascents, universally admitted, were carried out by the Montgolfier brothers. Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier lived in Annonay (France), where they owned a paper mill and the first experiments were performed with balloon in 1782 inspired by observing the ascent of smoke from chimneys.
On June 4, 1783 the Montgolfier brought out the first public display of the finding in his hometown. The balloon, unmanned, was a ball sack, made of linen and lined paper, about 11 meters in diameter and weighing about 226 kilograms and rose about 1830 feet high.
The Montgolfier were invited to make a demonstration before the court of Louis XVI at Versailles on 19 September in which he tied a balloon to the basket in which was a lamb, a turkey and a goose, the first passenger air, which did not suffer any damage. These inflated by hot air balloon, which cooled down, began to have the name "Montgolfiere" or "Mongolfiera.
In Spain, the first unmanned ascent brought out Agustín de Betancourt y Molina, founder of the "Escuela de Caminos y Canales," before the Royal Court on 28 November 1783.
The present time
At present, hot air balloons are on the list of the safest means of transport, along with airplanes and helicopters.
Technology has evolved a lot, while maintaining its essence, the precision of a hot air balloon is currently very high.
