International Aeronautical Congress of 1900

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The International Aeronautical Congress met during the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris, immediately following the International Conference of Meteorology and coinciding with some balloon racing at the "Paris exhibition". (The International Meteorological Committee held a meeting at the same time and recognized new heads of the meteorological bureaus of England and Italy.) General sessions took place at the Meudon Astro-physical Observatory, with sections meeting at the Institut de France. The Congress maintained Jules Janssen as president and Tribuoulet as general secretary. Prof. Samuel P. Langley, representing the U.S., was an honorary vice president.[1]

Janssen in his introductory speech said the nation which controlled the air would control the world. Paul Renard and Charles Renard, both of the French military base at Chalais-Meudon, spoke on the state of the art of balloon aeronautics, mentioning recent creations of Alberto Santos-Dumont and Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin. Léon Teisserenc de Bort reported on the use of ballons-sondes and kites for meteorology.[1]

Abbott Lawrence Rotch reported that the French government revealed some of its military balloon research:

The noteworthy feature of this meeting, which could hardly be called international, was the demonstration of the practical status of aëronautics in France. Through the courtesy of the Minister of War, the establishment of Chalais was opened to the public for the first time, permitting the construction and manipulation of the war-balloons to be seen, and what was more interesting to the student, the apparatus employed by Colonel Renard in determining the resistance of the air to various bodies moving through it.

This Congress established the Permanent International Aeronautic Commission, in which Rotch was involved.


Event names [[[Second] International Aeronautical Congress]]
Event type conference
Country FR
Locations Paris, Institut de France
Start date 1900-09-17
Number of days 5
Tech focus LTA, Balloon, Kite, Meteorology
Participants Samuel P. Langley, Jules Janssen, Alberto Santos-Dumont, Ferdinand von Zeppelin, Léon Teisserenc de Bort


References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Abbott Lawrence Rotch, "The International Congresses of Meteorology and Aeronautics at Paris", Science, Vol. XII, No. 308; 23 November 1900.