Bertrand Piccard
| Bertrand Piccard | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
1 March 1958 Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland |
| Nationality | Swiss |
| Alma mater | University of Lausanne |
| Occupation | Psychiatrist and aviator |
| Organization | Solar Impulse |
| Known for | Ballooning, solar flight |
| Parent(s) |
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| Relatives | Auguste Piccard (grandfather) |
| Website | bertrandpiccard |
Bertrand Piccard (born 1 March 1958) is a Swiss psychiatrist and balloonist. Along with Brian Jones, he was the first to complete a non-stop balloon flight around the globe. He is the initiator, chairman, and co-pilot of the first successful round-the-world solar flight with André Borschberg.
Piccard was born in Lausanne (Switzerland), into a family of explorers. His grandfather Auguste Piccard was a balloonist and his father, Jacques Piccard was an undersea explorer.
Growing up in a ballooning and undersea-exploration family, Bertrand always was fascinated with flight. As a child, he was taken to the launch of several space flights from Cape Canaveral. From an early age Bertrand also was fascinated by the study of human behaviour in extreme situations. He received a degree from the University of Lausanne in psychiatry. He has since become a lecturer and supervisor at the Swiss Medical Society for Hypnosis (SMSH).
Early on, he also obtained licenses to fly balloons, airplanes, gliders, and motorized gliders. In Europe, he was one of the pioneers of hang gliding and microlight flying during the 1970s. He became the European hang-glider aerobatics champion in 1985.
On 1 March 1999, Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones set off in the balloon Breitling Orbiter 3, a bright red, carbon-composite, egg-shaped craft measuring sixteen feet long and seven feet in diameter, from Château d'Oex in Switzerland on the first successful non-stop balloon circumnavigation of the globe—the first circumnavigation requiring no fuel for forward motion. Piccard and Jones, in close cooperation with a team of meteorologists on the ground, caught rides in a series of jet streams that carried them 25,361 miles to land in Egypt after a 45,755 km (28,431 mi) flight lasting 19 days, 21 hours, and 47 minutes. In recognition of this accomplishment, he received awards including the Harmon Trophy, the FAI Gold Air Medal and the Charles Green Salver.
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Wikipedia