Piccard, Auguste, << pee KAHR or pih KAHRD, oh GOOST >> (1884-1962), was a Swiss physicist and high-altitude research pioneer. He built the first pressurized gondola (passenger compartment) for a hydrogen-filled balloon. The gondola was designed to maintain air pressure inside it near the pressure at sea level. In 1932, Piccard and an assistant, Max Cosyns, ascended in the gondola 53,152 feet (16,201 meters) into the stratosphere to study cosmic rays, high-energy particles that originate in outer space. In 1948, Piccard designed a deep-sea diving ship called a bathyscaph. In 1953, he and his son, Jacques, descended 10,300 feet (3,140 meters) into the Mediterranean Sea in a bathyscaph named the Trieste.
Piccard was born on Jan. 28, 1884, in Basel, Switzerland. He died on March 24, 1962. His twin brother, Jean, also conducted high-altitude research.
See also Balloon (Balloon explorations) ; Bathyscaph .
