Editing Jean Piccard (section)

==Plastic balloons==
[[File:Gruppenbild der Montagemannschaft - CH-BAR - 3238344.tif|thumb|Jean Piccard (left) with his brother [[Auguste Piccard|Auguste]] (right) during [[World War I]]<ref>[https://www.swiss-archives.ch/detail.aspx?ID=3238344 Gruppenbild der Montagemannschaft, 1914.01.01-1918.12.31], Archives fédérales suisses</ref>]]

In 1935 and 1936, to reduce weight and thus enabling a balloon to reach higher altitudes, [[plastic]] balloon construction began independently by [[Max Cosyns]] in Belgium, [[Erich Regener]] in Germany, and Thomas H. Johnson and Jean Piccard, then at the [[Franklin Institute]]'s [[Bartol Research Institute|Bartol Research Foundation]] in [[Swarthmore, Pennsylvania]]. Johnson suggested [[cellophane]] to Jean Piccard.<ref name=Winker>{{cite web| author= Winker, J. A., via sample page| title= Scientific ballooning, past and present| publisher= American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics| year= 1986| url= http://www.aiaa.org/content.cfm?pageid=406&gTable=mtgpaper&gID=92979| accessdate= 2007-01-28| url-status= dead| archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20070927230153/http://www.aiaa.org/content.cfm?pageid=406&gTable=mtgpaper&gID=92979| archivedate= 2007-09-27}}</ref>

Piccard with his wife co-invented the plastic balloon<ref name=Rechs-JRP>{{cite web| author= Robert Rechs| title= Who's Who of Ballooning - P| date= November 21, 1983| url= http://www.ballooninghistory.com/whoswho/who'swho-p.html| accessdate= 2007-01-27}}</ref> and he designed and on 24 June 1936<ref>[https://www.aem.umn.edu/info/history/piccard.shtml University of Minnesota Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics: Professor Jean F. Piccard's Contribution to Balloon Flight]</ref> flew a cellophane balloon built by his students. The balloon was unmanned, {{convert|25|ft|m|abbr=off|sp=us}} wide, and made of tapered 33-foot (10-meter) [[Gore (segment)|gores]] and one-inch (2.54-cm) [[3M]] [[Scotch Tape|Scotch]] transparent tape. Jean Barnhill, Harold Larson and Lloyd Schumacher cut the gores that fit together like an "orange peel." Harold Hatlestad built the radio equipment and Robert Silliman built the [[telemeter (rangefinder)|telemeter]]<ref name=Gilruth>{{cite web| author= Gilruth, Dr. Robert| title= NASM Oral History Project, Gilruth #2| publisher= Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum| date= May 14, 1986| url= http://www.nasm.si.edu/research/dsh/TRANSCPT/GILRUTH2.HTM| accessdate= 2007-01-27| url-status= dead| archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20070217115856/http://www.nasm.si.edu/research/dsh/TRANSCPT/GILRUTH2.HTM| archivedate= February 17, 2007}}</ref> that sent temperature and pressure data back. Robert Hatch and Silliman maintained radio contact from a station on the roof of the university armory until the radio's battery froze from insufficient insulation.<ref name=Winker /><ref name=AEM-Notable>{{cite web| author= Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics (AEM) Department| publisher= University of Minnesota| title= Some Notable Early Faculty Members| date= July 23, 2004| url= http://www.aem.umn.edu/info/history/03_NotableFaculty.shtml| accessdate= 2007-01-27}}</ref> The balloon floated at 50,000 feet, and in ten hours traveled over 600 miles to near [[Huntsville, Arkansas]].<ref name=Winker /><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Akerman |first1=John D. |last2=Piccard |first2=Jean F. |date=1937 |journal=Journal of the Aeronautical Sciences |publisher=The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) |volume=4 |issue=8 |pages=332–337 |access-date=March 14, 2015 |url=http://arc.aiaa.org/doi/abs/10.2514/8.423?journalCode=jans |title=Upper Air Study by Means of Balloons and the Radio Meteorograph |doi=10.2514/8.423}}</ref>