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IN THE NEWS
TOUR OF THE MONTH
ON THIS DAY IN LONDON
25th August 1919 1st scheduled passenger service by airplane (Paris-London)
25th August 1907 Noted publisher Desmond Flower was born in London.
25th August 1867 English scientist Michael Faraday died at home at Hampton Court.
25th August 1776 Admiral Sir Thomas Bladen Capel was born in London.
25th August 1632 Elizabethan dramatist and pamphleteer Thomas Dekker died in London.
25th August 1537 The Honourable Artillery Company is formed in London.
Balloonist Gleisher lived here
The pioneering weatherman and balloonist Glaisher lived here.
Location: 20 Dartmouth Hill, Blackheath, London
Description: James Glaisher (1809-1903) was a meteorologist & pioneer of weather forecasting, and pioneering balloonist.
In 1862 the British Association for the Advancement of Science decided to fund a series of flights to study the upper atmosphere. The balloons would have to fly as high as possible. Glaisher volunteered to perform these potentially dangerous flights. In all he made 28 ascents between 1862 and 1866, 13 of which were funded by the Association.
His usual pilot was the experienced balloonist Henry Coxwell (1819-1900). On their first ascent of 17 July 1862 they reached an altitude of 26,177 ft. without oxygen. On 5 September, in a balloon called the Mars, they managed an altitude in the region of 30,000 ft., although it almost cost them their lives. Glaisher lost consciousness and Coxwell had to climb up into the rigging to free a tangled valve line. His hands were so paralysed with cold that he had to pull the chord with his teeth in order to check their ascent. Had he failed to manage it, they would both surely have died of hypothermia or oxygen starvation.
In 1845, Glaisher published his dew point tables, for the measurement of humidity.
Glaisher was a founder member of the Meteorological Society (1850), and the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain (1866).
Aviation
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The pioneering weatherman and balloonist Glaisher lived here. |
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The Man who knew everything», 6.8km
The home of Ada Lovelace», 5.9km
The Colonnade Town House», 8.4km
Colour Mauve invented here», 3.3km
Faraday's Apprenticeship», 7.0km
World's 1st Business Computer», 8.9km
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Hampstead Observatory», 9.5km
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