JF Ptak Science Books LLC Post 619 Blog Bookstore
Question: What is 150’ in diameter, weights 80 tons, carries 60 scientists, a cannon, a big rooster, an escape pod for women, and makes transcontinental flights?
Answer: nothing.
It did however live in print as the great balloon La Minerve, the prankish gesture of the Belgian optico-magician,
physics experimenter/exhibitionist and
general experimenter (and probable
crumbun) “Dr. Roberston”, who was
actually Étienne-Gaspard Robert (1763-1837).
Robert did have vast experience with balloons—he was Commandant des
Aerostiers during the war, serving under General Jourdain in Belgium and Holland
in 1803/4, providing valuable observations on the enemy troops and movements
from tethered (and not) balloon observing stations; he is also regarded by some as the inventor of
the parachute. He had a wide interested
in optics and toys, making a very profitable tour with Brewster mirrors,
demonstrating all manner of specters and floating bodies and such for a paying
audience.
He came up with this sci-fi-ish idea in the early 19th century, and published his dream broadsided swipe at other aeronauts in 1820 under the title of La Minerve, vaisseau aérien, destiné aux découvertes et proposé à toutes les Académies de l'Europe par le physicien Robertson. There was nothing about this balloon that would’ve worked, and Robertson knew it, intending his pamphlet to be more of caricature of existing attempts in flight than as a science fiction creation. (The pamphlet reads a little mean-spirited to me regarding the Minerve; other sections, which dealt with single-occupant air-transport devices of imaginative construction, seem less so.)
In any event, Roberston provided large creature comforts for his travelers, not the least of which was a ship (which seems to be 175 feet long) holding 60 scientists and providing enough space for long-distance sleeping arrangements, laboratories, observation decks, a kitchen, food supplies, water and the like. There is a (large!) cannon in the bow of the Minerve, which is also topped by an enormous cock (I figure it to be 50 feet from tail to beak), a gigantic and heavy symbol for vigilance (at what price?) . There are several small out buildings, as well as a smaller balloon that housed the women who accompanied the all-male crew on these long distance jaunts.
There is an enormous anchor where the power source for forward motion should
be. Alas! Roberston has provided no means of thrust,
trusting the winds to take the massive balloon to-and-fro.
“Minerva” is the Roman goddess of poetry, medicine, wisdom, commerce and crafts, as well as the goddess of warriors. She also invented music.
The following is from Gaston Tissandier’s La Navigation Aérienne L'aviation
Et La Direction Des Aérostats Dans Les Temps Anciens Et
Modernes (1886). The e-text is courtesy of Project Gutenberg,
which mentions that one of the people responsible for placing
the scanned text online is named “Vogel’, which means “bird”,
just like my own surname, which is “Ptak”, meaning “bird” in
Polish.
"...le célèbre physicien Robertson publia plus tard, en 1803, une brochure qui eut un grand succès, et dans laquelle il décrivit sous le nom de la Minerve, un immense ballon à voile de 50 mètres de diamètre, capable d'élever 72 000 kilogrammes et destiné à faire voyager dans tous les pays du monde «60 personnes instruites choisies par les académies», pour faire des observations scientifiques et des découvertes géographiques.
"Nous donnons à la page suivante le dessin de ce ballon gigantesque . Il suffit de le considérer pour voir que Robertson a voulu se jouer de son lecteur, ou plaisanter, comme nous venons de le dire, les inventeurs d'aérostats dirigeables. Nous donnons d'après lui la description suivante de l'appareil:
"En haut de la machine est un coq, symbole de la vigilance: «un observateur intérieurement placé à l'œil de ce coq, surveille tout ce qui peut arriver dans l'hémisphère supérieur du ballon; il annonce aussi l'heure à tout l'équipage.»"
This is quite the Howl's Moving Castle. Ptak would be a fitting name for its captain. Too bad your folks didn't name you Robin. (Anyway, didn't we go to school with a Vogel?)
Posted by: Jeff | May 21, 2009 at 11:24 PM