Blanchard, Jean-Pierre-François

Blanchard, Jean-Pierre-François

J.-P.-F. Blanchard, engraving by James Newton, 1785, after an oil painting by Richard Livesay

(credit: Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.)

(born July 4, 1753, Les Andelys, France—died March 7, 1809, Paris) French balloonist. In 1785 he made the first aerial crossing of the English Channel, accompanied by John Jeffries, a U.S. doctor. He invented a parachute in 1785. His balloon flights in other European countries and in the U.S. in 1793 spurred an interest in ballooning. He and his wife performed many exhibitions in Europe; they died in separate balloon accidents.