Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier

Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier was the practical half of the balloon partnership, the brother who turned his sibling's idea into flying machines and managed the family business that paid for them. Born in Annonay in 1745, the fifteenth of sixteen children, he was sent to Paris to train as an architect and was recalled in 1772 when an elder brother died, to run the paper mill. He was a capable industrialist. He introduced Dutch manufacturing methods, and the works was granted the status of a royal manufactory, which supplied the money and the material — paper and fabric — that the experiments consumed. When Joseph wrote to him in late 1782 about the rising box, Étienne built larger versions and took charge of the engineering. He worked out the construction of the envelope, its shape and the fabric and paper lamination, and organised the demonstrations that made the invention famous rather than a curiosity. The Annonay demonstration of 4 June 1783 lifted a globe of about 800 cubic metres. Étienne then went to Paris and, in September 1783 at Versailles, flew a sheep, a duck and a cockerel before the king and court. In October he made the first human ascent in a tethered balloon, becoming the first person to leave the ground in one — the brothers' father had forbidden Joseph from flying, and Étienne did it himself. The free manned flight followed on 21 November 1783 with Pilâtre de Rozier and d'Arlandes aboard. The brothers were made nobles by the king, with a balloon on the coat of arms. Étienne kept the business running through the Revolution and died in 1799.

• Lived: 1745 CE – 1799 CE
• Nationality: French
• Roles: inventor, engineer