George Sand

1862

An aeronautical society with Jules Verne

In 1862 he and Jules Verne established a Société pour la recherche de la navigation aérienne, which later became the Society for the Encouragement of Aerial Locomotion by Means of Heavier than Air Machines; Nadar served as president and Verne as secretary.

1863

Commissions the enormous balloon “Le Géant”

He commissioned the prominent balloonist Eugène Godard to build an enormous balloon, 60 metres high with a capacity of 6,000 cubic metres, named “Le Géant” (The Giant); it inspired Jules Verne’s “Five Weeks in a Balloon”.

1863

The first ascent of “Le Géant” from the Champ de Mars

About eighty thousand people watched the first ascent of the balloon from the Champ de Mars; its two-storey basket was the size of a small house and held everything needed, including a kitchen.

1863

The crash of “Le Géant” near Hanover

During a flight in October 1863 a strong wind carried the balloon off towards Germany, and near Hanover “Le Géant” crashed, injuring Nadar and his wife Ernestine.

1864

The book “Memoirs of the Giant”

In 1864 he published a book about these flights, “Memoirs of the Giant”.

26 September 1864

Brussels and the “Nadar barriers”

On his visit to Brussels with “Le Géant” Nadar erected mobile barriers to keep the crowd at a safe distance; crowd-control barriers are still known in Belgium as Nadar barriers.