Balloonomania their ballooning stunts, with Blanchard and his companion Dr. John Jeffries being the first to cross the English channel in a balloon on January 7, 1785. The public reaction among intellectuals and academics was generally cooler, with some critics of balloonomania including the likes of Sir Joseph Banks and Samuel Johnson, who wrote in a 1783 letter to Hester Thrale, who had inquired about the nature of hot air balloons, “Happy are you, Madam, that have ease and leisure to want intelligence of air balloons. Their existence is, I believe, indubitable, but I know not that they can possibly be
Sophie Blanchard and Blanchard's story were relegated to the margins of aviation history. A novel inspired by Blanchard's story, Linda Donn's "The Little Balloonist", was published in 2006. a. As Comte de Provence, Louis had earlier been a patron of balloon pioneer Pilâtre de Rozier, who had been the victim of the first fatal ballooning accident on 15 June 1785. b. Most sources do not mention the number of the house but some say number 15 or number 16, and some claim the building was a hotel. </div> Sophie Blanchard Sophie Blanchard (25 March 1778 – 6 July 1819), commonly referred to