Gustave Hermite

Gustave Hermite (11 June 1863 – 9 November 1914) was a French aeronaut and physicist, pioneer with Georges Besançon of the weather balloon. He was the nephew of Charles Hermite, one of the fathers of modern mathematical analysis.

Biography Gustave Hermite was born in Nancy, France, on 11 June 1863. Fond of sciences, he began studying chemistry in 1884 at the laboratory of the Academy of Neuchâtel in Switzerland, then turned to astronomy. On 17 September, the first documented weather balloon in history flew, with a barometer and a minimum thermometer. The ball fell to the ground thanks to a parachute and the instruments could be recovered.

Having demonstrated the feasibility of the balloon probe, which he gave the name of weather balloon, and thanks to the support of the Union Aerophile de France, they then launch a series of balloons capable of carrying more than 10,000 meters a nacelle weighing several kilograms containing recording devices which inaugurated a series of international scientific ascents. In 1898 Léon Teisserenc de Bort organized the beginnings of systematic sounding of the atmosphere at the Trappes Observatory of Dynamic Meteorology .

Gustave Hermite died on 9 November 1914 in Bois-Colombes, a suburb of Paris.