Editing Bartolomeu de Gusmão (section)

==Airship==
In 1709, he presented a petition to King [[João V of Portugal]], seeking royal favour for his invention of an airship, in which he expressed the greatest confidence. The contents of this petition have been preserved, together with a picture and description of his [[airship]]. Developing the ideas of [[Francesco Lana de Terzi]],{{Citation needed|date=September 2016}} S.J., Gusmão wanted to spread a huge sail over a boat-like body like the cover of a transport wagon; the boat itself was to contain tubes through which, when there was no wind, air would be blown into the sail by means of bellows. The vessel was to be propelled by the agency of magnets which were to be encased in two hollow metal balls.{{Citation needed|date=September 2016}} The public test of the machine, which was set for 24 June 1709, did not take place. 
[[Image:Figure de la Barque inventée en 1709 par Laurent de Gusman, Chapelain du Roi de Portugal, pour s'élever et se diriger dans les Airs - Bibliothèque nationale de France.png|thumb|upright=1.3|right|Artistic impression of the ''Passarola'', a conceptual airship imagined by Bartolomeu de Gusmão]]

It is known that Gusmão was working on this principle at the public exhibition he gave before the Court on 8 August  1709, in the hall of the [[Casa da Índia]] in Lisbon, when he propelled a small balloon to the roof using combustion from a flame.  The king rewarded the inventor by appointing him to a professorship at [[Coimbra]] and made him a [[canon (priest)|canon]].  He was also one of the fifty selected as members of the ''Academia Real de História'', founded in 1720; and in 1722 he was made chaplain to the Court. Gusmão also busied himself with other inventions, but in the meantime continued his work on his airship schemes, the idea for which he is said to have conceived while a novice at Bahia. His designs included a ''ship to sail in the air'' consisting of a triangular gas-filled pyramid, but he died without making progress.[[Image:Introduction_of_a_small_balloon_to_the_court_of_D._João_5th.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|right|Painting depicting the presentation before the portuguese court of a small hot air [[Balloon_(aeronautics)|balloon]] developed by Bartolomeu de Gusmão]]