Jeannette Piccard
Encyclopedia
Jeannette Ridlon Piccard (January 5, 1895 – May 17, 1981) was an American high-altitude balloonist
, and in later life an Episcopal priest
. She held the women's altitude record for nearly three decades, and according to several contemporaneous accounts was regarded as the first woman in space.
Jeannette was the first licensed female balloon pilot in the U.S., and the first woman to fly to the stratosphere
. Accompanied by her husband, Jean—a member of the Piccard
family of balloonists and the twin brother of Auguste Piccard
—she reached a height of 10.9 miles (17.5 km) during a record-breaking flight over Lake Erie
on October 23, 1934, retaining control of the balloon for the entire flight. After Jean's death in 1963, she worked as a consultant to the director of NASA
's Johnson Space Center for several years, talking to the public about NASA's work, and was posthumously inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame in 1998.
From the late 1960s onwards, Jeannette returned to her childhood interest in religion. She was ordained
a deacon of the Episcopal Church
in 1971, and on July 29, 1974, became one of the Philadelphia Eleven, the first women to be ordained priests—though the ordinations were regarded as irregular, performed by bishops who had retired or resigned. Jeannette was the first of the women to be ordained that day, because at 79 she was the oldest, and because she was fulfilling an ambition she had had since she was 11 years old. When asked by Bishop John Allin, the head of the church, not to proceed with the ceremony, she is said to have told him, "Sonny, I'm old enough to have changed your nappies." In September 1976, the church voted to allow women into the priesthood, and Jeannette served as a priest in Saint Paul, Minnesota
, until she died at the age of 86. One of her granddaughters, the Rev. Kathryn Piccard, also an Episcopal priest, said of her: "She wanted to expand the idea of what a respectable lady could do. She had the image of the street-wise old lady."
She studied philosophy and psychology at Bryn Mawr College
, where in 1916 she wrote an essay titled Should Women Be Admitted to the Priesthood of the Anglican Church? She received her bachelor's degree in 1918, and went on to study organic chemistry at the University of Chicago
, receiving her master's degree in 1919. That same year she met and married Jean Felix Piccard
, who was teaching at the university.
Jeannette was the mother of a house full of boys. Robert R. Gilruth, one of Jean's students and collaborators, said later in his oral history that he remembered a breakfast he had with the Piccards in a St. Cloud, Minnesota
hotel before a balloon launching, "I don't know how many there were. It seems like there was a dozen.... I remember the youngest one took the corn flake box and dumped it on his father's head. Of course, Piccard just brushed it off his head and said, 'No, no.'" "He was very gentle. He loved his boys, and he thought boys would be boys, I guess." The Piccards had three sons of their own, John, Paul, and Donald
(who would become a famous balloonist and ballooning innovator in his own right), as well as foster children. The Piccard family archive in the Library of Congress mentions correspondence from foster children whom the Piccards took in, although nothing else seems to be known about them.
The Piccards taught at the University of Lausanne
from 1919–26. In 1926 they returned to the United States, where Jean taught organic chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
. The couple lived in Massachusetts
, New Jersey
, Delaware
, and Pennsylvania
before settling in Minneapolis in 1936 when Jean joined the faculty of the University of Minnesota
. She received a doctorate in education from the University of Minnesota in 1942, and a certificate of study from the General Theological Seminary
in 1973.
Gilruth made a point of describing Jeannette in his oral history. He said, "She was very bright, had her own doctor's degree, and was at least half of the brains of that family, technical as well as otherwise. ...She was always in the room when he was lecturing or otherwise, almost always. She was something. She was good." David DeVorkin, curator of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
, wrote a history of manned scientific ballooning. In DeVorkin's view, Jean and Jeannette's "entrepreneurship and subsequent success" in ballooning was due to "their enormous persistence...and considerable confidence, pluck, and luck".
was already a Belgian national celebrity for his 1931 and 1932 stratosphere flights that set off what a United Press correspondent called a "race for supremacy in the stratosphere", and he became a celebrity in America. He entertained the idea of flying in the U.S. until at least mid-February 1933, but he received generous funding for a flight in Belgium, and instead turned the project and his power of attorney
over to his twin brother Jean. DeVorkin wrote that Jean lived his whole life in the shadow of his brother, whose success in ballooning he wanted to emulate. Jean had lost his job developing explosives at the Hercules Powder Company, and had no prospects for employment—let alone during the Great Depression
—so he was happy to take on the project.
was the largest in the world, conceived for the 1933 Century of Progress International Exposition
, a world's fair held in Chicago to celebrate the city's centennial. The fair's organizers planned a balloon flight to the stratosphere and hoped to lure Auguste as pilot—the Piccard name certainly had high publicity value. Dow Chemical
constructed the magnesium-alloy gondola. Goodyear-Zeppelin
built the balloon of rubberized cloth. Union Carbide
provided the hydrogen for lifting and liquid oxygen
for pressurizing the gondola's interior. The National Broadcasting Company
and the Chicago Daily News
were sponsors, and newspapers publicized the event. At 105 feet (32 m) wide and 600000 cubic feet (16,990.1 m³), the balloon's envelope took 700 hydrogen cylinders to fill.
Unfortunately, Jean became an annoyance. When he tried independently to find funding from DuPont
, he told them the conditions for the balloon's takeoff in Chicago could be dangerous, and was turned down. When he tried to go over the flight organizers heads by contacting the president of the fair (who was a friend of Jeannette's father) over what he considered a slight, the president refused to see him. He battled with an associate of the fair's director of concessions who wanted Jean out of the picture and then wanted Auguste to return to the U.S. to fly. Eventually, Jean was demoted from inflight science observer to not flying at all.
During the negotiations, the organizers agreed to give Jean and Jeannette the balloon and gondola after its initial flight, in exchange for Jean remaining on the ground. Goodyear and Arthur Compton
, who served as the flight's director of science, decided to use a U.S. Navy
pilot, although Jean, who had served as a balloonist during World War I
in the Swiss Army but did not have a U.S. license, thought he would be co-pilot until two months before flight day. The Piccard name (which bore considerable publicity value) was kept prominently when the flight was named "The Piccard-Compton Stratosphere Ascension from Soldier Field".
Gradually, the idea of a Navy pilot won, and Jean signed a memorandum of understanding with the organizers that said he would remain on the ground, "permitting Commander Settle to go alone. The reduction in weight thereby produced will most assuredly enable Commander Settle to reach a higher altitude". On the night of August 4, 1933, in front of forty thousand spectators in Soldier Field, as the balloon was being inflated, the fair's general manager said:
Lt. Cmdr. Thomas (Tex) G. W. Settle
of the U.S. Navy made the first flight solo in the balloon at 3:00 a.m. on August 5, but his ascent was aborted shortly after takeoff because a gas release valve malfunctioned. The balloon then belonged to the Piccards but the armed forces again decided to use it (Jean, who at the time disliked the military, wrote to Auguste in December 1933, "The Navy and the Army are very stupid..."). Jean wrote to the gondola manufacturer in September 1933:
On November 20, 1933, with only a few hundred onlookers this time, Settle and Maj. Chester L. Fordney of the U.S. Marine Corps
flew the Century of Progress balloon from Akron, Ohio
, reaching 61237 feet (18,665 m), a new Fédération Aéronautique Internationale
(FAI) altitude record. It was the first successful flight from U.S. soil to the stratosphere, and Settle and Fordney became the first Americans to reach the stratosphere. They landed in a marsh near Bridgeton, New Jersey
, only a few miles from the Piccards' home.
in Dearborn, Michigan
under Edward J. Hill, a balloonist and Gordon Bennett Cup
winner, who agreed to serve as flight director for the Piccards' planned stratospheric flight. Henry Ford
offered the use of his hangar and brought Orville Wright
(with his brother Wilbur, inventor of the airplane and first human to fly a heavier-than-air powered aircraft) to observe a flight of Jeannette's in 1933. Her son Don
was a crew member that day and shook hands with Wright, "I was a little kid and he [paid] attention to me." On June 16, 1934, Jeannette flew her first solo flight. Later that year, the National Aeronautic Association
made her the first woman licensed balloon pilot in the U.S. Auguste wrote to Jean in June 1934, "Hopefully you will make your flight ahead of other competitors. It would be nice, if the name of Piccard through Jeannette, would once more be placed on the record list of the F.A.I."
When she was interviewed near the end of her life, and asked why she hadn't hired a pilot and why she had decided to become a pilot herself, Jeannette replied, "How much loyalty can you count on from someone you hire?" When she was asked if she had parachute training, Jeannette said, "No ... if, on the first time you jump, you don't succeed, there's no use trying again."
used, hydrogen, is flammable. Jeannette said later that, "The National Geographic Society would have nothing to do with sending a woman—a mother—in a balloon into danger". Longtime Piccard family backer Goodyear
were reluctant to support their flight. Dow Chemical asked that their trade names and logo be removed from publicity and from the Century of Progress balloon.
Gilruth said, "I remember that Piccard was very, very hurt by the National Geographic that would not give them a dime....Both he and Jeanette said that they were discriminated against by the National Geographic. That's not a good word. They were not aided in any way by the National Geographic, and they felt it was not really warranted. They felt they should have gotten some help from them.... [He] didn't say why, but they certainly didn't feel they'd been handled fairly." The Piccards struggled to gain financial support until the Grigsby-Grunow Radio Company advanced them several thousand dollars. The Detroit Aero Club and People's Outfitting Company also backed them. To supplement their sponsorship, Jeannette designed and sold commemorative stamps and souvenir programs and folders. She also raised a good deal of money by selling their story in press releases to the North American Newspaper Alliance
.
Forty-five thousand spectators came to see the Piccards off on October 23, 1934, at 6:51 am, about two hours behind schedule. Jeannette piloted the reconditioned Century of Progress, and the couple took along their pet turtle, Fleur de Lys. After a brief pre-launch ceremony, during which the Piccards received a bouquet from their sons and a small band played The Star-Spangled Banner
, they lifted off from Ford Airport
, assisted by airmen on the ground who pushed the gondola. Jean changed the flight path and shortened the flight time because of cloudy skies, which reduced the amount of scientific work they were able to do. Jeannette made "unplanned and impulsive maneuvres" and the Piccards failed to make complete records of their actions during the flight. The newspaper alliance had offered to pay them 1,000 if they broke the altitude record, so they jettisoned all of their sandbags, attempting to go higher. They reached 57579 feet (17,550.1 m) or about 10.9 miles (17.5 km) up, travelled for eight hours on a journey over Lake Erie
, and landed about 300 miles (482.8 km) away from Dearborn, near Cadiz, Ohio
. She had to choose a landing on elm trees, realizing that meant the Century of Progress would never fly again. The balloon separated from the gondola and was ripped. Jean sustained small fractures to his ribs, left foot, and ankle. According to Jeannette's description in Time magazine: "What a mess! I wanted to land on the White House
lawn."
in 1963 became the first woman in space
, orbiting the Earth 48 times solo in the Soviet Union's Vostok 6
. According to the editors of Flying
magazine, in their book Sport Flying, published by Ziff-Davis in 1976, Jeannette was "the first woman in space, a claim allowed even by Valentina Tereshkova." She was also the first woman to pilot a flight to the stratosphere, and according to her obituary in The New York Times
, the first person to do so through a layer of clouds. Jean created the liquid oxygen converter and frost-resistant window which he thought was later used in Boeing
's B-17 Flying Fortress, and used blasting cap
s and TNT for releasing the balloon at launch and for remote release of external ballast from inside the sealed cabin. This was the first use of pyrotechnics
for remote-controlled actuating devices in aircraft, a revolutionary and unpopular idea at the time. Later, Gilruthwho became the director of the NASA Manned Spacecraft Center
approved and used them in spacecraft
. Also aboard the balloon, where every pound counts, were two instruments for studying cosmic radiation – one designed by Jean's friend and mentor William Francis Gray Swann
, and Robert Millikan's 540 lb (244.9 kg) ionization chamber
. Neither Swann nor Millikan were satisfied with the flight's scientific results, a lesson for manned flights that repeated for decades.
, and also offered her services, but was turned down. Luckily, they met a new advocate while on lecture tour to Minneapolis. Thanks to John Ackerman of the department of aeronautical engineering at the University of Minnesota, Jean became an untenured professor in Minnesota by 1936, teaching and doing aeronautical studies until 1946 when he received tenure. During 1943, Jeannette was briefly an executive secretary at the housing section of the Minnesota Office of Civil Defense
.
In 1946 until mid-1947, the Piccards were consultants to General Mills
(the cereal company and dominant industry in Minneapolis) working under Otto Winzen, who Jean had met through the university. Winzen and Jean proposed a stratosphere flight with 100 cluster balloons and secured a government contract with the Navy. Featured in Navy press releases, Jean was named a project scientist responsible for gondola design and for testing the balloon film materials. But he balked, both at making weekly status reports that made him feel like a lower-level employee, and at the prospect of General Mills owning the patents to his ideas. Working as a consultant, Jeannette threatened to break off ties with the Navy and General Mills unless she was allowed to fly with Jean. Unfortunately this began a rift between General Mills and the Piccards. They were both were fired in 1947, for they were too critical of Winzen and General Mills staff.
Jean retired from the University of Minnesota when he was 68, never giving up his dream of returning to the stratosphere. DeVorkin quoted a newspaper in 1952, "to Adventurer Piccard, no gondola probing the unexplored purple twilight of the stratosphere would be complete without him and his wife in it". Jean died in 1963.
Gilruth asked Jeannette to work as a consultant at NASA. She accepted and lived in a house in Houston
she shared with another woman. Jeannette spoke to the scientific community and to the public at NASA about the space program from 1964 to 1970, when Project Apollo
was created and Apollo 11
made the first manned Moon landing in 1969. Gilruth then noticed a shift in her interests, away from space and towards religion.
of Pennsylvania
, and Edward Randolph Welles II of the diocese of West Missouri
– ordained eleven women priests, cheered by a large congregation. A fourth bishop, José Antonio Ramos of Costa Rica
, was there but was out of his jurisdiction. All eleven women risked suspension as deacons, and the four bishops "could be suspended or deposed by a church trial court" for ignoring a church canon prohibiting retired bishops from performing "episcopal acts" unless asked by a local bishop. Five Episcopal priests objected at the point in the service when Corrigan asked if there was "any impediment" to the ordinations, one calling the ordinations a "perversion" and another calling them "unlawful and schismatical".
Jeannette was the first of the eleven women ordained because she was the oldest and she was fulfilling a lifelong dream. Carter Heyward
another of the group who were known as "irregulars" and sometimes called the "Philadelphia Eleven"became the 1974 Ms. magazine Woman of the Year. Suzanne Hiatt later said "In retrospect, to have been ordained 'irregularly' is the only way for women to have done it". Alison Cheek
, Heyward, and Jeannette joined in a consecration, and Jeannette gave the absolution in a celebration of the eucharist
at Riverside Church in Manhattan in November. Philip McNairy of the diocese of Minnesota
, who wanted women in the priesthood, was concerned that the eleven were hurting the cause of the other women deacons, who numbered over one hundred at the time.
of 1973 held in Louisville, Kentucky
. John M. Allin of Mississippi, the new (as of June) presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, which had 3.1 million members at the time, called an emergency meeting of the House of Bishops
in Chicago in August 1974. Jeannette told Allin, "Sonny, I'm old enough to have changed your nappies."
Harold B. Robinson, a bishop in the diocese of Western New York
, and two colleagues set in motion charges accusing the three bishops of breaking their vows and violating church laws. They withdrew charges when the House of Bishops, in a carefully worded resolution that passed 129 to 9 with 8 abstensions, challenged the ordinations and decried the bishops' actions, calling them understandable but "wrong". But the church was moving in this direction already, and the general convention of 1976 held in Minneapolis voted to open the priesthood to women.
from 1975–1977. In 1977 the Episcopal Church recognized her ordination. Kathryn Piccard, her granddaughter, who also became an Episcopal priest, was later quoted in The New York Times as saying, "She wanted to expand the idea of what a respectable lady could do. She had the image of the street-wise old lady." Jeannette became a volunteer chaplain at St. Luke's Hospital, now United Hospital, and assistant pastor to Denzil Carty at Episcopal Church on Maccubin, both in Saint Paul. From 1968 until 1981 she was an honorary member of the Seabury-Western Theological Seminary
board of trustees.
Jeannette died of cancer
on May 17, 1981 at the Masonic Memorial Hospital in Minneapolis, Minnesota
, aged 86.
in 1934. The National Aeronautic Association gave her a Certificate of Reward & Performance in 1935. In 1965 she received the first William Randolph Lovelace II Award from the American Astronautical Society (AAS). The University of Minnesota Alumni Association gave her an Outstanding Achievement Award in 1968 and engraved her name on their wall of honor. Graduate Women in Science
, also known as Sigma Delta Epsilon, made her an honorary member "For Excellence In Scientific Research" in 1971. Hobart and William Smith Colleges
gave her an honorary doctorate. She received the Robert R. Gilruth Award in 1970 from the North Galveston County
Chamber of Commerce.
She was posthumously inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame
in 1998, and she and her husband were nominated to the FAI Ballooning Commission Hall of Fame. The Balloon Federation of America renamed its award the Piccard Memorial Trophy. Pat Donohue wrote Solo Flight, a one-woman play about Jeannette's life. The Bryn Mawr College Library has the Jeanette Ridlon Piccard Book Fund, which provides funds for the purchase of books on the history of religion.
Balloon (aircraft)
A balloon is a type of aircraft that remains aloft due to its buoyancy. A balloon travels by moving with the wind. It is distinct from an airship, which is a buoyant aircraft that can be propelled through the air in a controlled manner....
, and in later life an Episcopal priest
Episcopal Church (United States)
The Episcopal Church is a mainline Anglican Christian church found mainly in the United States , but also in Honduras, Taiwan, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, the British Virgin Islands and parts of Europe...
. She held the women's altitude record for nearly three decades, and according to several contemporaneous accounts was regarded as the first woman in space.
Jeannette was the first licensed female balloon pilot in the U.S., and the first woman to fly to the stratosphere
Stratosphere
The stratosphere is the second major layer of Earth's atmosphere, just above the troposphere, and below the mesosphere. It is stratified in temperature, with warmer layers higher up and cooler layers farther down. This is in contrast to the troposphere near the Earth's surface, which is cooler...
. Accompanied by her husband, Jean—a member of the Piccard
Piccard
-Notable people with this name:Members of the Swiss-American Piccard family:* Auguste Piccard , physicist, balloonist, hydronaut* Bertrand Piccard , psychiatrist, balloonist* Jacques Piccard , hydronaut...
family of balloonists and the twin brother of Auguste Piccard
Auguste Piccard
Auguste Antoine Piccard was a Swiss physicist, inventor and explorer.-Biography:Piccard and his twin brother Jean Felix were born in Basel, Switzerland...
—she reached a height of 10.9 miles (17.5 km) during a record-breaking flight over Lake Erie
Lake Erie
Lake Erie is the fourth largest lake of the five Great Lakes in North America, and the tenth largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has the shortest average water residence time. It is bounded on the north by the...
on October 23, 1934, retaining control of the balloon for the entire flight. After Jean's death in 1963, she worked as a consultant to the director of NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
's Johnson Space Center for several years, talking to the public about NASA's work, and was posthumously inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame in 1998.
From the late 1960s onwards, Jeannette returned to her childhood interest in religion. She was ordained
Ordination
In general religious use, ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart as clergy to perform various religious rites and ceremonies. The process and ceremonies of ordination itself varies by religion and denomination. One who is in preparation for, or who is...
a deacon of the Episcopal Church
Episcopal Church (United States)
The Episcopal Church is a mainline Anglican Christian church found mainly in the United States , but also in Honduras, Taiwan, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, the British Virgin Islands and parts of Europe...
in 1971, and on July 29, 1974, became one of the Philadelphia Eleven, the first women to be ordained priests—though the ordinations were regarded as irregular, performed by bishops who had retired or resigned. Jeannette was the first of the women to be ordained that day, because at 79 she was the oldest, and because she was fulfilling an ambition she had had since she was 11 years old. When asked by Bishop John Allin, the head of the church, not to proceed with the ceremony, she is said to have told him, "Sonny, I'm old enough to have changed your nappies." In September 1976, the church voted to allow women into the priesthood, and Jeannette served as a priest in Saint Paul, Minnesota
Saint Paul, Minnesota
Saint Paul is the capital and second-most populous city of the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city lies mostly on the east bank of the Mississippi River in the area surrounding its point of confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Minneapolis, the state's largest city...
, until she died at the age of 86. One of her granddaughters, the Rev. Kathryn Piccard, also an Episcopal priest, said of her: "She wanted to expand the idea of what a respectable lady could do. She had the image of the street-wise old lady."
Family and education
Born in Chicago, Illinois, Jeannette was one of nine children born to Emily Ridlon and Dr. John Ridlon, who was president of the American Orthopaedic Association. She had a lifelong interest in science and religion. When she was 11, her mother asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up. Jeannette's reply—"a priest"—sent her mother running out of the room in tears.She studied philosophy and psychology at Bryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr College is a women's liberal arts college located in Bryn Mawr, a community in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, ten miles west of Philadelphia. The name "Bryn Mawr" means "big hill" in Welsh....
, where in 1916 she wrote an essay titled Should Women Be Admitted to the Priesthood of the Anglican Church? She received her bachelor's degree in 1918, and went on to study organic chemistry at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
, receiving her master's degree in 1919. That same year she met and married Jean Felix Piccard
Jean Piccard
Jean Felix Piccard , also known as Jean Piccard, was a Swiss-born American chemist, engineer, professor and high-altitude balloonist. He invented clustered high-altitude balloons, and with his wife Jeannette, the plastic balloon...
, who was teaching at the university.
Jeannette was the mother of a house full of boys. Robert R. Gilruth, one of Jean's students and collaborators, said later in his oral history that he remembered a breakfast he had with the Piccards in a St. Cloud, Minnesota
St. Cloud, Minnesota
St. Cloud is a city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the largest population center in the state's central region. The population was 65,842 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Stearns County...
hotel before a balloon launching, "I don't know how many there were. It seems like there was a dozen.... I remember the youngest one took the corn flake box and dumped it on his father's head. Of course, Piccard just brushed it off his head and said, 'No, no.'" "He was very gentle. He loved his boys, and he thought boys would be boys, I guess." The Piccards had three sons of their own, John, Paul, and Donald
Don Piccard
Donald Louis Piccard is an American balloonist.The son of Jean Felix Piccard and Jeannette Piccard, Don Piccard first flew in a balloon in 1933, when he was enlisted as "crew" by his mother, the first woman to fly to the edge of space. He served as a balloon and airship rigger in the U. S...
(who would become a famous balloonist and ballooning innovator in his own right), as well as foster children. The Piccard family archive in the Library of Congress mentions correspondence from foster children whom the Piccards took in, although nothing else seems to be known about them.
The Piccards taught at the University of Lausanne
University of Lausanne
The University of Lausanne in Lausanne, Switzerland was founded in 1537 as a school of theology, before being made a university in 1890. Today about 12,000 students and 2200 researchers study and work at the university...
from 1919–26. In 1926 they returned to the United States, where Jean taught organic chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
. The couple lived in Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, Delaware
Delaware
Delaware is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, and to the north by Pennsylvania...
, and Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
before settling in Minneapolis in 1936 when Jean joined the faculty of the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
. She received a doctorate in education from the University of Minnesota in 1942, and a certificate of study from the General Theological Seminary
General Theological Seminary
The General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church is a seminary of the Episcopal Church in the United States and is located in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan in New York....
in 1973.
Gilruth made a point of describing Jeannette in his oral history. He said, "She was very bright, had her own doctor's degree, and was at least half of the brains of that family, technical as well as otherwise. ...She was always in the room when he was lecturing or otherwise, almost always. She was something. She was good." David DeVorkin, curator of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
National Air and Space Museum
The National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution holds the largest collection of historic aircraft and spacecraft in the world. It was established in 1976. Located in Washington, D.C., United States, it is a center for research into the history and science of aviation and...
, wrote a history of manned scientific ballooning. In DeVorkin's view, Jean and Jeannette's "entrepreneurship and subsequent success" in ballooning was due to "their enormous persistence...and considerable confidence, pluck, and luck".
Auguste and Jean
When he visited the United States for a lecture tour, Auguste PiccardAuguste Piccard
Auguste Antoine Piccard was a Swiss physicist, inventor and explorer.-Biography:Piccard and his twin brother Jean Felix were born in Basel, Switzerland...
was already a Belgian national celebrity for his 1931 and 1932 stratosphere flights that set off what a United Press correspondent called a "race for supremacy in the stratosphere", and he became a celebrity in America. He entertained the idea of flying in the U.S. until at least mid-February 1933, but he received generous funding for a flight in Belgium, and instead turned the project and his power of attorney
Power of attorney
A power of attorney or letter of attorney is a written authorization to represent or act on another's behalf in private affairs, business, or some other legal matter...
over to his twin brother Jean. DeVorkin wrote that Jean lived his whole life in the shadow of his brother, whose success in ballooning he wanted to emulate. Jean had lost his job developing explosives at the Hercules Powder Company, and had no prospects for employment—let alone during the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
—so he was happy to take on the project.
Balloon and Thomas Settle flights
The Century of Progress hydrogen gas balloonGas balloon
A gas balloon is any balloon that stays aloft due to being filled with a gas less dense than air or lighter than air . A gas balloon may also be called a Charlière for its inventor, the Frenchman Jacques Charles. Today, familiar gas balloons include large blimps and small rubber party balloons...
was the largest in the world, conceived for the 1933 Century of Progress International Exposition
Century of Progress
A Century of Progress International Exposition was the name of a World's Fair held in Chicago from 1933 to 1934 to celebrate the city's centennial. The theme of the fair was technological innovation...
, a world's fair held in Chicago to celebrate the city's centennial. The fair's organizers planned a balloon flight to the stratosphere and hoped to lure Auguste as pilot—the Piccard name certainly had high publicity value. Dow Chemical
Dow Chemical Company
The Dow Chemical Company is a multinational corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, United States. As of 2007, it is the second largest chemical manufacturer in the world by revenue and as of February 2009, the third-largest chemical company in the world by market capitalization .Dow...
constructed the magnesium-alloy gondola. Goodyear-Zeppelin
Goodyear Aerospace
Goodyear Aerospace Corporation was the aerospace and defense subsidiary of Goodyear.-Early Years:The company began as Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.’s Aeronautics Department and renamed in 1917 as the Goodyear Zeppelin Corporation set up to construct dirigibles for the US military...
built the balloon of rubberized cloth. Union Carbide
Union Carbide
Union Carbide Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company. It currently employs more than 2,400 people. Union Carbide primarily produces chemicals and polymers that undergo one or more further conversions by customers before reaching consumers. Some are high-volume...
provided the hydrogen for lifting and liquid oxygen
Liquid oxygen
Liquid oxygen — abbreviated LOx, LOX or Lox in the aerospace, submarine and gas industries — is one of the physical forms of elemental oxygen.-Physical properties:...
for pressurizing the gondola's interior. The National Broadcasting Company
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
and the Chicago Daily News
Chicago Daily News
The Chicago Daily News was an afternoon daily newspaper published between 1876 and 1978 in Chicago, Illinois.-History:The Daily News was founded by Melville E. Stone, Percy Meggy, and William Dougherty in 1875 and began publishing early the next year...
were sponsors, and newspapers publicized the event. At 105 feet (32 m) wide and 600000 cubic feet (16,990.1 m³), the balloon's envelope took 700 hydrogen cylinders to fill.
Unfortunately, Jean became an annoyance. When he tried independently to find funding from DuPont
DuPont
E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company , commonly referred to as DuPont, is an American chemical company that was founded in July 1802 as a gunpowder mill by Eleuthère Irénée du Pont. DuPont was the world's third largest chemical company based on market capitalization and ninth based on revenue in 2009...
, he told them the conditions for the balloon's takeoff in Chicago could be dangerous, and was turned down. When he tried to go over the flight organizers heads by contacting the president of the fair (who was a friend of Jeannette's father) over what he considered a slight, the president refused to see him. He battled with an associate of the fair's director of concessions who wanted Jean out of the picture and then wanted Auguste to return to the U.S. to fly. Eventually, Jean was demoted from inflight science observer to not flying at all.
During the negotiations, the organizers agreed to give Jean and Jeannette the balloon and gondola after its initial flight, in exchange for Jean remaining on the ground. Goodyear and Arthur Compton
Arthur Compton
Arthur Holly Compton was an American physicist and Nobel laureate in physics for his discovery of the Compton effect. He served as Chancellor of Washington University in St. Louis from 1945 to 1953.-Early years:...
, who served as the flight's director of science, decided to use a U.S. Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
pilot, although Jean, who had served as a balloonist during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
in the Swiss Army but did not have a U.S. license, thought he would be co-pilot until two months before flight day. The Piccard name (which bore considerable publicity value) was kept prominently when the flight was named "The Piccard-Compton Stratosphere Ascension from Soldier Field".
Gradually, the idea of a Navy pilot won, and Jean signed a memorandum of understanding with the organizers that said he would remain on the ground, "permitting Commander Settle to go alone. The reduction in weight thereby produced will most assuredly enable Commander Settle to reach a higher altitude". On the night of August 4, 1933, in front of forty thousand spectators in Soldier Field, as the balloon was being inflated, the fair's general manager said:
The sportsmanship and unselfishness displayed by Dr. Jean Piccard in surrendering his place in the balloon so that a greater altitude may be achieved through the lessened weight of himself and his equipment—is a note of sacrifice that will not be forgotten.
Lt. Cmdr. Thomas (Tex) G. W. Settle
Thomas G. W. Settle
Thomas Greenhow Williams "Tex" Settle was an officer of the United States Navy who on November 20, 1933, together with Army major Chester L. Fordney, set a world altitude record in the Century of Progress stratospheric balloon...
of the U.S. Navy made the first flight solo in the balloon at 3:00 a.m. on August 5, but his ascent was aborted shortly after takeoff because a gas release valve malfunctioned. The balloon then belonged to the Piccards but the armed forces again decided to use it (Jean, who at the time disliked the military, wrote to Auguste in December 1933, "The Navy and the Army are very stupid..."). Jean wrote to the gondola manufacturer in September 1933:
Mrs. Piccard and I cannot see that our lives are so very valuable.... Without a job, without a laboratory on the ground we are not in a position to render any service to humanity
On November 20, 1933, with only a few hundred onlookers this time, Settle and Maj. Chester L. Fordney of the U.S. Marine Corps
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
flew the Century of Progress balloon from Akron, Ohio
Akron, Ohio
Akron , is the fifth largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Summit County. It is located in the Great Lakes region approximately south of Lake Erie along the Little Cuyahoga River. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 199,110. The Akron Metropolitan...
, reaching 61237 feet (18,665 m), a new Fédération Aéronautique Internationale
Fédération Aéronautique Internationale
The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale is the world governing body for air sports and aeronautics and astronautics world records. Its head office is in Lausanne, Switzerland. This includes man-carrying aerospace vehicles from balloons to spacecraft, and unmanned aerial vehicles...
(FAI) altitude record. It was the first successful flight from U.S. soil to the stratosphere, and Settle and Fordney became the first Americans to reach the stratosphere. They landed in a marsh near Bridgeton, New Jersey
Bridgeton, New Jersey
Bridgeton is a city in Cumberland County, New Jersey, United States, in the south part of the state, on the Cohansey River, near Delaware Bay. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was 25,349. It is the county seat of Cumberland County...
, only a few miles from the Piccards' home.
Planning and pilot's license
After Settle's record flight, the balloon was again returned to the Piccards, who decided to fly it to the stratosphere on their own. Jean would concentrate on the science, while Jeannette would pilot the balloon. DeVorkin wrote that, "Energetic and forceful, she seemed to have a better chance of obtaining a pilot's license than Jean, who was preoccupied with restoring the gondola and balloon and convincing scientists to provide instruments to fly". She studied at Ford AirportFord Airport (Dearborn)
Ford Airport in Dearborn, Michigan was one of the first modern airports in the world. The airport operated from 1924 to 1947, and the site is now part of Ford Motor Company's Dearborn Proving Ground. The airport is about 360 acres in size....
in Dearborn, Michigan
Dearborn, Michigan
-Economy:Ford Motor Company has its world headquarters in Dearborn. In addition its Dearborn campus contains many research, testing, finance and some production facilities. Ford Land controls the numerous properties owned by Ford including sales and leasing to unrelated businesses such as the...
under Edward J. Hill, a balloonist and Gordon Bennett Cup
Gordon Bennett Cup in ballooning
The Gordon Bennett Cup is the world's oldest gas balloon race, and is "regarded as the premier event of world balloon racing" according to the Los Angeles Times. Referred to as the "Blue Ribbon" of aeronautics, the first race started from Paris, France, on September 30, 1906...
winner, who agreed to serve as flight director for the Piccards' planned stratospheric flight. Henry Ford
Henry Ford
Henry Ford was an American industrialist, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, and sponsor of the development of the assembly line technique of mass production. His introduction of the Model T automobile revolutionized transportation and American industry...
offered the use of his hangar and brought Orville Wright
Wright brothers
The Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur , were two Americans credited with inventing and building the world's first successful airplane and making the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight, on December 17, 1903...
(with his brother Wilbur, inventor of the airplane and first human to fly a heavier-than-air powered aircraft) to observe a flight of Jeannette's in 1933. Her son Don
Don Piccard
Donald Louis Piccard is an American balloonist.The son of Jean Felix Piccard and Jeannette Piccard, Don Piccard first flew in a balloon in 1933, when he was enlisted as "crew" by his mother, the first woman to fly to the edge of space. He served as a balloon and airship rigger in the U. S...
was a crew member that day and shook hands with Wright, "I was a little kid and he [paid] attention to me." On June 16, 1934, Jeannette flew her first solo flight. Later that year, the National Aeronautic Association
National Aeronautic Association
The National Aeronautic Association of the United States is a non-profit 501 organization and a member of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale , the international standard setting and record-keeping body for aeronautics and astronautics. NAA is the official record-keeper for United States...
made her the first woman licensed balloon pilot in the U.S. Auguste wrote to Jean in June 1934, "Hopefully you will make your flight ahead of other competitors. It would be nice, if the name of Piccard through Jeannette, would once more be placed on the record list of the F.A.I."
When she was interviewed near the end of her life, and asked why she hadn't hired a pilot and why she had decided to become a pilot herself, Jeannette replied, "How much loyalty can you count on from someone you hire?" When she was asked if she had parachute training, Jeannette said, "No ... if, on the first time you jump, you don't succeed, there's no use trying again."
Search for funding
High altitude ballooning was a dangerous undertaking, partly because human lungs cannot function unaided over 40000 –, and partly because the lifting gasLifting gas
Because of the Archimedes' principle, a lifting gas is required for aerostats to create buoyancy. Its density is lower than that of air . Only certain lighter than air gases are suitable as lifting gases.- Hot Air :...
used, hydrogen, is flammable. Jeannette said later that, "The National Geographic Society would have nothing to do with sending a woman—a mother—in a balloon into danger". Longtime Piccard family backer Goodyear
Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company was founded in 1898 by Frank Seiberling. Goodyear manufactures tires for automobiles, commercial trucks, light trucks, SUVs, race cars, airplanes, farm equipment and heavy earth-mover machinery....
were reluctant to support their flight. Dow Chemical asked that their trade names and logo be removed from publicity and from the Century of Progress balloon.
Gilruth said, "I remember that Piccard was very, very hurt by the National Geographic that would not give them a dime....Both he and Jeanette said that they were discriminated against by the National Geographic. That's not a good word. They were not aided in any way by the National Geographic, and they felt it was not really warranted. They felt they should have gotten some help from them.... [He] didn't say why, but they certainly didn't feel they'd been handled fairly." The Piccards struggled to gain financial support until the Grigsby-Grunow Radio Company advanced them several thousand dollars. The Detroit Aero Club and People's Outfitting Company also backed them. To supplement their sponsorship, Jeannette designed and sold commemorative stamps and souvenir programs and folders. She also raised a good deal of money by selling their story in press releases to the North American Newspaper Alliance
North American Newspaper Alliance
The North American Newspaper Alliance was a large newspaper syndicate that flourished between 1922 and 1980.Founded by John Neville Wheeler, NANA employed some of the most noted writing talents of its time, including Grantland Rice, Joseph Alsop, Michael Stern, Lothrop Stoddard, Dorothy Thompson,...
.
Flight
The Star-Spangled Banner
"The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States of America. The lyrics come from "Defence of Fort McHenry", a poem written in 1814 by the 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet, Francis Scott Key, after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry by the British Royal Navy ships...
, they lifted off from Ford Airport
Ford Airport (Dearborn)
Ford Airport in Dearborn, Michigan was one of the first modern airports in the world. The airport operated from 1924 to 1947, and the site is now part of Ford Motor Company's Dearborn Proving Ground. The airport is about 360 acres in size....
, assisted by airmen on the ground who pushed the gondola. Jean changed the flight path and shortened the flight time because of cloudy skies, which reduced the amount of scientific work they were able to do. Jeannette made "unplanned and impulsive maneuvres" and the Piccards failed to make complete records of their actions during the flight. The newspaper alliance had offered to pay them 1,000 if they broke the altitude record, so they jettisoned all of their sandbags, attempting to go higher. They reached 57579 feet (17,550.1 m) or about 10.9 miles (17.5 km) up, travelled for eight hours on a journey over Lake Erie
Lake Erie
Lake Erie is the fourth largest lake of the five Great Lakes in North America, and the tenth largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has the shortest average water residence time. It is bounded on the north by the...
, and landed about 300 miles (482.8 km) away from Dearborn, near Cadiz, Ohio
Cadiz, Ohio
Cadiz is a village in Harrison County, Ohio, United States. The population was 3,308 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Harrison County.-Geography:Cadiz is located at ....
. She had to choose a landing on elm trees, realizing that meant the Century of Progress would never fly again. The balloon separated from the gondola and was ripped. Jean sustained small fractures to his ribs, left foot, and ankle. According to Jeannette's description in Time magazine: "What a mess! I wanted to land on the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
lawn."
Legacy
Her flight set the women's altitude record, and held it for 29 years, until Valentina TereshkovaValentina Tereshkova
Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova is a retired Soviet cosmonaut, and was the first woman in space. She was selected out of more than four hundred applicants, and then out of five finalists, to pilot Vostok 6 on the 16 June, 1963, becoming both the first woman and the first civilian to fly in...
in 1963 became the first woman in space
Outer space
Outer space is the void that exists between celestial bodies, including the Earth. It is not completely empty, but consists of a hard vacuum containing a low density of particles: predominantly a plasma of hydrogen and helium, as well as electromagnetic radiation, magnetic fields, and neutrinos....
, orbiting the Earth 48 times solo in the Soviet Union's Vostok 6
Vostok 6
-Backup crew:-Reserve crew:Vostok VI-Mission parameters:*Mass: *Apogee: *Perigee: *Inclination: 64.9°*Period: 87.8 minutes9090...
. According to the editors of Flying
Flying (magazine)
Flying is an aviation magazine published since 1927 . It is read by pilots, aircraft owners, and aviation-oriented executives in business and general aviation markets worldwide....
magazine, in their book Sport Flying, published by Ziff-Davis in 1976, Jeannette was "the first woman in space, a claim allowed even by Valentina Tereshkova." She was also the first woman to pilot a flight to the stratosphere, and according to her obituary in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, the first person to do so through a layer of clouds. Jean created the liquid oxygen converter and frost-resistant window which he thought was later used in Boeing
Boeing
The Boeing Company is an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation, founded in 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001...
's B-17 Flying Fortress, and used blasting cap
Blasting cap
A blasting cap is a small sensitive primary explosive device generally used to detonate a larger, more powerful and less sensitive secondary explosive such as TNT, dynamite, or plastic explosive....
s and TNT for releasing the balloon at launch and for remote release of external ballast from inside the sealed cabin. This was the first use of pyrotechnics
Pyrotechnics
Pyrotechnics is the science of using materials capable of undergoing self-contained and self-sustained exothermic chemical reactions for the production of heat, light, gas, smoke and/or sound...
for remote-controlled actuating devices in aircraft, a revolutionary and unpopular idea at the time. Later, Gilruthwho became the director of the NASA Manned Spacecraft Center
Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center
The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's center for human spaceflight training, research and flight control. The center consists of a complex of 100 buildings constructed on 1,620 acres in Houston, Texas, USA...
approved and used them in spacecraft
Spacecraft
A spacecraft or spaceship is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, planetary exploration and transportation of humans and cargo....
. Also aboard the balloon, where every pound counts, were two instruments for studying cosmic radiation – one designed by Jean's friend and mentor William Francis Gray Swann
William Francis Gray Swann
William Francis Gray Swann was an Anglo-American physicist. He was educated at Brighton Technical College and the Royal College of Science from which he obtained a B.Sc. in 1905. He worked as an Assistant Lecturer at the University of Sheffield, while simultaneously pursuing a doctorate at...
, and Robert Millikan's 540 lb (244.9 kg) ionization chamber
Ionization chamber
The ionization chamber is the simplest of all gas-filled radiation detectors, and is used for the detection or measurement of ionizing radiation...
. Neither Swann nor Millikan were satisfied with the flight's scientific results, a lesson for manned flights that repeated for decades.
Later life, death of Jean Piccard
Jean and Jeannette felt they had succeeded by reaching the stratosphere, and they became popular lecturers. They prepared brochures and souvenirs to attract attention to the flight, one titled "Who Said We Couldn't Do It." But they had developed perhaps unreasonable expectations that lucrative university positions would come to them. Both wrote to dozens of colleges and universities, aiming high—even at college presidencies, trying to secure positions, but they received only rejections. In December 1934, Jeannette wrote to Swann to ask if Jean might become a member of the chemistry staff of Bartol Research at the Franklin InstituteFranklin Institute
The Franklin Institute is a museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and one of the oldest centers of science education and development in the United States, dating to 1824. The Institute also houses the Benjamin Franklin National Memorial.-History:On February 5, 1824, Samuel Vaughn Merrick and...
, and also offered her services, but was turned down. Luckily, they met a new advocate while on lecture tour to Minneapolis. Thanks to John Ackerman of the department of aeronautical engineering at the University of Minnesota, Jean became an untenured professor in Minnesota by 1936, teaching and doing aeronautical studies until 1946 when he received tenure. During 1943, Jeannette was briefly an executive secretary at the housing section of the Minnesota Office of Civil Defense
Office of Civil Defense
The Office of Civil Defense was an agency of the United States Department of Defense from 1961-64. It replaced the Office of Civil and Defense Mobilization. The organization was abolished on July 20, 1979, pursuant to Executive Order 12148. It was a predecessor to the Federal Emergency...
.
In 1946 until mid-1947, the Piccards were consultants to General Mills
General Mills
General Mills, Inc. is an American Fortune 500 corporation, primarily concerned with food products, which is headquartered in Golden Valley, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. The company markets many well-known brands, such as Betty Crocker, Yoplait, Colombo, Totinos, Jeno's, Pillsbury, Green...
(the cereal company and dominant industry in Minneapolis) working under Otto Winzen, who Jean had met through the university. Winzen and Jean proposed a stratosphere flight with 100 cluster balloons and secured a government contract with the Navy. Featured in Navy press releases, Jean was named a project scientist responsible for gondola design and for testing the balloon film materials. But he balked, both at making weekly status reports that made him feel like a lower-level employee, and at the prospect of General Mills owning the patents to his ideas. Working as a consultant, Jeannette threatened to break off ties with the Navy and General Mills unless she was allowed to fly with Jean. Unfortunately this began a rift between General Mills and the Piccards. They were both were fired in 1947, for they were too critical of Winzen and General Mills staff.
Jean retired from the University of Minnesota when he was 68, never giving up his dream of returning to the stratosphere. DeVorkin quoted a newspaper in 1952, "to Adventurer Piccard, no gondola probing the unexplored purple twilight of the stratosphere would be complete without him and his wife in it". Jean died in 1963.
Gilruth asked Jeannette to work as a consultant at NASA. She accepted and lived in a house in Houston
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
she shared with another woman. Jeannette spoke to the scientific community and to the public at NASA about the space program from 1964 to 1970, when Project Apollo
Project Apollo
The Apollo program was the spaceflight effort carried out by the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration , that landed the first humans on Earth's Moon. Conceived during the Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower, Apollo began in earnest after President John F...
was created and Apollo 11
Apollo 11
In early 1969, Bill Anders accepted a job with the National Space Council effective in August 1969 and announced his retirement as an astronaut. At that point Ken Mattingly was moved from the support crew into parallel training with Anders as backup Command Module Pilot in case Apollo 11 was...
made the first manned Moon landing in 1969. Gilruth then noticed a shift in her interests, away from space and towards religion.
Ordination
In 1971, one year after the Episcopal Church admitted female deacons, Jeannette was ordained a deacon, and on July 29, 1974 at age 79, under remarkable circumstances, she was ordained a priest. In Philadelphia, at the Church of the Advocate, three retired bishops – Daniel Corrigan, former church head of domestic missions, Robert L. De Witt of the dioceseDiocese
A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...
of Pennsylvania
Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania
The Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania is a diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America encompassing the counties of Philadelphia, Montgomery, Bucks, Chester and Delaware in the state of Pennsylvania....
, and Edward Randolph Welles II of the diocese of West Missouri
Episcopal Diocese of West Missouri
The Episcopal Diocese of West Missouri, is the diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America with jurisdiction over western Missouri. It is in Province 7 and its cathedral, Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral, is in Kansas City, Missouri, as are the diocesan offices.-Bishops of West...
– ordained eleven women priests, cheered by a large congregation. A fourth bishop, José Antonio Ramos of Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
, was there but was out of his jurisdiction. All eleven women risked suspension as deacons, and the four bishops "could be suspended or deposed by a church trial court" for ignoring a church canon prohibiting retired bishops from performing "episcopal acts" unless asked by a local bishop. Five Episcopal priests objected at the point in the service when Corrigan asked if there was "any impediment" to the ordinations, one calling the ordinations a "perversion" and another calling them "unlawful and schismatical".
Jeannette was the first of the eleven women ordained because she was the oldest and she was fulfilling a lifelong dream. Carter Heyward
Carter Heyward
Isabel Carter Heyward is a lesbian feminist theologian, teacher and priest in the Episcopal Church - the province of the worldwide Anglican Communion in the United States....
another of the group who were known as "irregulars" and sometimes called the "Philadelphia Eleven"became the 1974 Ms. magazine Woman of the Year. Suzanne Hiatt later said "In retrospect, to have been ordained 'irregularly' is the only way for women to have done it". Alison Cheek
Alison Cheek
Alison Cheek is a religious leader best known for being named by Time magazine as a Woman of the Year in 1975 representing the Women's Movement. Cheek was an Episcopal priest and became one of the first women to be an ordained priest in an Episcopal church. In August 1974 She was installed as...
, Heyward, and Jeannette joined in a consecration, and Jeannette gave the absolution in a celebration of the eucharist
Eucharist
The Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance...
at Riverside Church in Manhattan in November. Philip McNairy of the diocese of Minnesota
Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota
The Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota is the diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America which has jurisdiction over all of Minnesota, except Clay County, which is in the Episcopal Diocese of North Dakota, and Browns Valley, which is in the Episcopal Diocese of South Dakota. It is...
, who wanted women in the priesthood, was concerned that the eleven were hurting the cause of the other women deacons, who numbered over one hundred at the time.
Fallout, women recognized
A proposal to recognize women priests had been narrowly defeated at the triennial general conventionGeneral Convention of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America
The General Convention is the primary governing and legislative body of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. With the exception of the Bible, the Book of Common Prayer, and the Constitution and Canons, it is the ultimate authority in the Episcopal Church. General Convention...
of 1973 held in Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
. John M. Allin of Mississippi, the new (as of June) presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, which had 3.1 million members at the time, called an emergency meeting of the House of Bishops
House of Bishops
The House of Bishops is the third House in a General Synod of some Anglican churches and the second house in the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America.-Composition of Houses of Bishops:...
in Chicago in August 1974. Jeannette told Allin, "Sonny, I'm old enough to have changed your nappies."
Harold B. Robinson, a bishop in the diocese of Western New York
Episcopal Diocese of Western New York
The Episcopal Diocese of Western New York, is the diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America with jurisdiction over the counties of Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, Genesee, Niagara, Orleans and Wyoming in western New York. It is in Province 2 and its cathedral, St. Paul's...
, and two colleagues set in motion charges accusing the three bishops of breaking their vows and violating church laws. They withdrew charges when the House of Bishops, in a carefully worded resolution that passed 129 to 9 with 8 abstensions, challenged the ordinations and decried the bishops' actions, calling them understandable but "wrong". But the church was moving in this direction already, and the general convention of 1976 held in Minneapolis voted to open the priesthood to women.
Life as a priest
Jeannette served as a deacon or irregular at St. Philip's Episcopal Church in Saint Paul, MinnesotaSaint Paul, Minnesota
Saint Paul is the capital and second-most populous city of the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city lies mostly on the east bank of the Mississippi River in the area surrounding its point of confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Minneapolis, the state's largest city...
from 1975–1977. In 1977 the Episcopal Church recognized her ordination. Kathryn Piccard, her granddaughter, who also became an Episcopal priest, was later quoted in The New York Times as saying, "She wanted to expand the idea of what a respectable lady could do. She had the image of the street-wise old lady." Jeannette became a volunteer chaplain at St. Luke's Hospital, now United Hospital, and assistant pastor to Denzil Carty at Episcopal Church on Maccubin, both in Saint Paul. From 1968 until 1981 she was an honorary member of the Seabury-Western Theological Seminary
Seabury-Western Theological Seminary
Seabury-Western Theological Seminary is a seminary of The Episcopal Church, located in Evanston, Illinois. It was formed in 1933 by a merger of Western Theological Seminary of Evanston , and Seabury Divinity School of Faribault, Minnesota...
board of trustees.
Jeannette died of cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
on May 17, 1981 at the Masonic Memorial Hospital in Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...
, aged 86.
Honors
Jeannette received the Harmon TrophyHarmon Trophy
The Harmon Trophy is a set of three international trophies, to be awarded annually to the world's outstanding aviator, aviatrix , and aeronaut...
in 1934. The National Aeronautic Association gave her a Certificate of Reward & Performance in 1935. In 1965 she received the first William Randolph Lovelace II Award from the American Astronautical Society (AAS). The University of Minnesota Alumni Association gave her an Outstanding Achievement Award in 1968 and engraved her name on their wall of honor. Graduate Women in Science
Graduate Women in Science
Graduate Women in Science , also known as Sigma Delta Epsilon, is an organization for female graduate students in science, first established in 1921....
, also known as Sigma Delta Epsilon, made her an honorary member "For Excellence In Scientific Research" in 1971. Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Hobart and William Smith Colleges, located in Geneva, New York, are together a liberal arts college offering Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science and Master of Arts in Teaching degrees. In athletics, however, the two schools compete with separate teams, known as the Hobart Statesmen and the...
gave her an honorary doctorate. She received the Robert R. Gilruth Award in 1970 from the North Galveston County
Galveston County, Texas
Galveston County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas within the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, the population was 291,309. Its county seat is Galveston. League City is the largest city in Galveston County in terms of population; between...
Chamber of Commerce.
She was posthumously inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame
International Space Hall of Fame
The New Mexico Museum of Space History is a museum and planetarium complex in Alamogordo, New Mexico, dedicated to artifacts and displays related to space flight and the space age. It includes the International Space Hall of Fame. The Museum of Space History highlights the role that New Mexico has...
in 1998, and she and her husband were nominated to the FAI Ballooning Commission Hall of Fame. The Balloon Federation of America renamed its award the Piccard Memorial Trophy. Pat Donohue wrote Solo Flight, a one-woman play about Jeannette's life. The Bryn Mawr College Library has the Jeanette Ridlon Piccard Book Fund, which provides funds for the purchase of books on the history of religion.