biography
pronunciation:
[zhifah(r)]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1825–82)
|
| biography:
| Engineer and inventor, born in Paris, France. He studied at the Collège Bourbon and the Ecole Centrale. In 1852 he built a light 3 hp steam engine, fitted it with an 3·3 m/11 ft propeller, and succeeded in piloting a coal-gas balloon, steered by a rudder, over a distance of 17 mi. This can be considered as the first powered and controlled flight ever achieved, in a craft which was a primitive example of the dirigible or semi-rigid airship. In 1858 he patented a steam injector which became widely used in locomotives and other types of steam engine, and made him a fortune. He continued with his aeronautical experiments, and left his money to the state for humanitarian and scientific purposes. |
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