This magnificent book - which is superbly illustrated with engravings, portraits and technical drawings - is a true masterpiece on the Montgolfier brothers and the invention of aviation as well.

’ Get in a supply of taffeta and cordage quickly..., wrote Joseph Montgolfier to his younger brother, Étienne, in November 1782,  … and you will see one of the most astonishing sights in the world. ’

In a vividly illustrated narrative of the Jules Verne - like adventures that followed Joseph’s summons, the author introduces the readers to the brothers Montgolfier, who launched the first hot - air balloon in Annonay ( France ) on June 4th, 1783.
Drawing on previously unexploited family papers, he portrays the innovating Montgolfiers not only as important contributors to technology and to the beginnings of aviation but as characters in an entertaining tale. The Montgolfiers’ story includes the application of Joseph’s ideas on the expansive force of heat to the improvement of the stream engine by his nephew, Marc Seguin, who designed and built the first cable suspension bridges in the world and the first railroad in France.

Charles Coulston Gillispie ( August 6th, 1918 - October 6th, 2015 ) grew up in Bethlehem ( Pennsylvania, United States ). He attended Wesleyan University, graduating in 1940 with a major in Chemistry and gained his Ph.D from Harvard University in 1949. He also served in the U.S. Army during the Second World War. Charles C. Gillispie joined the Department of History at Princeton University, establishing the Program in History of Science at Princeton in the 1960’s. He was president of the History of Science Society from 1965 - 66. He headed the editorial board of the Dictionary of Scientific Biography, for which he received the Dartmouth Medal in 1981. Charles C. Gillispie also received the Pfizer Award in 1981.
He was awarded the George Sarton Medal by the History of Science Society in 1984 and the Balzan Prize in 1997 for ’ the extraordinary contribution he has made to the history and philosophy of science by his intellectually vigorous, precise works, as well as his editing of a great reference work ’.
He has also written several books, essays and reviews, such as Genesis and geology : a study in the relations of scientific thought, natural theology, and social opinion in Britain, 1790 - 1850 ( 1951 ), The edge of objectivity : an essay in the history of scientific ideas ( 1960 ), Science and polity in France at the end of the old regime ( 1980 ) and Pierre - Simon Laplace, 1749 - 1827 : a life in exact science ( 1997 ).
Charles C. Gillispie died at the age of 97.
( source : Wikipedia )