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Jacques Alexandre Bixio (20 November 1808 – 16 December 1865) was a French medical doctor, balloonist, and politician of Italian origin.
Bxio was born in 
On 29 June 1850, at 10.27 A.M., Bixio and Jean Augustin Barral made the first of two balloon ascents from the
1902 encyclopedia entry
* William Butcher, Arthur C. (FRW) Clarke, ''Jules Verne'', Thunder's Mouth Press, 2006, page 145. . 1808 births 1865 deaths People from Chiavari Immigrants to France Moderate Republicans (France) Ministers of agriculture and commerce of France Members of the 1848 Constituent Assembly Members of the National Legislative Assembly of the French Second Republic French balloonists {{France-politician-stub
Chiavari
Chiavari (; ) is a seaside comune (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Genoa, in Italy. It has about 28,000 inhabitants. It has a beachside promenade and a marina and is situated near the river Entella (river), Entella.
History
Pre-Rom ...
, Italy, and published a number of works relating to agriculture. He was the first minister of agriculture and commerce for Napoleon III of France
Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led a series of m ...
, but is better remember as a scientific balloonist.
On 29 June 1850, at 10.27 A.M., Bixio and Jean Augustin Barral made the first of two balloon ascents from the Paris Observatory
The Paris Observatory (, ), a research institution of the Paris Sciences et Lettres University, is the foremost astronomical observatory of France, and one of the largest astronomical centres in the world. Its historic building is on the Left Ban ...
in a balloon inflated with hydrogen
Hydrogen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol H and atomic number 1. It is the lightest and abundance of the chemical elements, most abundant chemical element in the universe, constituting about 75% of all baryon, normal matter ...
. The first turned out poorly. MM. Bixio and Barral determined to ascend again and on 27 July 1850, they repeated the experiment. The ascent was remarkable on account of the extreme cold at the elevation attained. Bixio died in Paris on 16 December 1865.
References
1902 encyclopedia entry
* William Butcher, Arthur C. (FRW) Clarke, ''Jules Verne'', Thunder's Mouth Press, 2006, page 145. . 1808 births 1865 deaths People from Chiavari Immigrants to France Moderate Republicans (France) Ministers of agriculture and commerce of France Members of the 1848 Constituent Assembly Members of the National Legislative Assembly of the French Second Republic French balloonists {{France-politician-stub