Falling Stars as Seen From the Balloon

Abstract

T ravels in the Air is a 19th-century narrative of balloon ascents by meteorologist James Glaisher (1809-1903), astronomer Camille Flammarion, science journalist Wilfrid de Fonvielle, and chemist Gaston Tissandier. Falling Stars as Seen From the Balloon, by Albert Tissandier (18391906), is a chromolithograph from Travels in the Air that illustrates de Fonvielle’s balloon flight of November 14-15, 1867, to view the Leonid meteor shower. In this romantically shaded image, the trajectories of several meteors are superimposed in the night sky. In 1867 an observer would have had to look directly into the moonlight to see the Leonids, but hundreds of meteors were visible despite the glare. De Fonvielle was born in Paris, France, in 1826. He was a student of mathematics in 1848 when the citizens of Paris rebelled against the monarchy of King Louis Philippe. In the subsequent suppression, De Fonvielle, who was a staunch supporter of the insurrection, was arrested and expelled from the country. Eventually he was allowed to return to France, where he became a writer and editor for the scientific publications La Nature, L'Aerophile, and Lumiere Electrique. During the 1850s De Fonvielle made scientific observations in gasfilled balloons. His flight of November 14-15, 1867, was in a small balloon called L'hirondelle. There was just room in the basket for provisions, warm clothing, scientific instruments, and three men: de Fonvielle, the balloon’s owner, and an American aeronaut who wore a parachute and offered to jump out (in poor light, over unknown terrain) if there was a need to lighten the craft. After filling the balloon with hydrogen gas, the aeronauts ascended in the dark, admiring the lights of Paris as