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Jacques-Alexandre-César Charles
(12 Nov 1746 - 7 Apr 1823)
French mathematician,
physicist, and inventor, who made man's first hydrogen balloon ascent.
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“Nothing will
ever equal that moment of joyous excitement which filled my whole being
when I felt myself flying away from the earth. It was not mere
pleasure; it was perfect bliss. Escaped from the frightful torments of
persecution and of calumny, I felt that I was answering all in rising
above all.”
—Jacques Charles
after making man's first ascent
by hydrogen balloon in 1783
quoted in Wonderful Balloon Ascents: Or, the Conquest of the Skies
by F. Marion
quoted in Wonderful Balloon Ascents: Or, the Conquest of the Skies
by F. Marion

