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The Conversation USA

From their balloons, the first aeronauts transformed our view of the world

  • Written by Jennifer Tucker, Associate Professor of History and Science in Society, Wesleyan University
A lithograph from Gaston Tissandier's balloon travels depicts falling stars.Archive.org

Near the beginning of the new film “The Aeronauts,” a giant gas-filled balloon called the “Mammoth” departs from London’s Vauxhall Gardens and ascends into the clouds, revealing a bird’s eye view of London.

To some moviegoers,...

Read more: From their balloons, the first aeronauts transformed our view of the world

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