bild
Der Schweizer Wissenschaftler Auguste Piccard, Mitte, und der belgische Physiker Max Cosyns, links, bei der Kapsel ihres Ballons, vor dem Start zum Flug in die Stratosphaere, am 18. August 1932 im Hangar des Flugfeldes in Duebendorf, Schweiz. Es ist Piccards zweiter Flug in die Stratosphaere. (KEYSTONE/PHOTOPRESS-ARCHIV/Es) Swiss scientist Auguste Piccard, center, and Belgian physicist Max Cosyns, left, stand next to the balloon gondola in a hangar on the airport in Duebendorf, Switzerland, before the flight to the stratosphere, pictured on August 18, 1932. It is Piccard's second balloon flight to the stratosphere. Auguste Piccard (1884-1962) was a physicist, inventor and explorer. An interest in ballooning and a curiosity about the upper atmosphere led him to design and construct a spherical, pressurized aluminum gondola which would allow him to ascend to great altitude without requiring a pressure suit in 1930. Piccard and a Belgian engineer reached a record altitude of 15'785 m on May 27, 1931. During this flight, Piccard was able to gather substantial data on the stratosphere. Piccard and Cosyns made a record-breaking ascent to 16'200 m on August 18, 1932. In the mid-1930s, Piccard's interests shifted when he realized that a modification of some of his atmospheric balloon concepts would allow to descend into the deep ocean and he designed a small steel gondola to withstand great external pressure. Piccard and his son built the improved Bathyscaphe Trieste in 1953. (KEYSTONE/PHOTOPRESS-ARCHIV/Es)