Auguste PiccardDied 24 Mar 1962 at age 78 (born 28 Jan 1884). Swiss-Belgian physicist who exploredboth the upper stratosphere and the depths of the sea in ships of his own design. In 1930 he built a balloon to study cosmic rays. In 1932 he developed a new cabin design for balloons and in the same year ascended by balloon in a pressurised gondola to 16,916 m (55,000 feet). On later flights he reached 72,000 feet. He coined the word bathyscaphe for his navigable deep-diving vessel. |