Origin of Famous Inventions and Inventors: Hot Air Balloon

About the origin of the invention of the hot air balloon, history of how inventors Jacques and Joseph Montgolfier first took flight.

THE INVENTION: Balloon (1783)

THE INVENTORS: Jacques E. Montgolfier and Joseph Montgolfier, France

Hot air from a fire lifted the Montgolfier balloon at Annonay, France, in June of 1783. One story tells that the Montgolfier brothers, paper manufacturers, realized hot air's ability to float a balloon by accident. According to the legend, Jacques' wife washed a petticoat one day and hung it over a small fire to dry. The heat inflated the petticoat and caused it to rise.