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There are 2 quotes matching Jacques Charles in the collection:
Nothing will ever equal that moment of joyous excitement which filled my whole being when I felt myself flying away from the earth. It was not mere pleasure; it was perfect bliss. Escaped from the frightful torments of persecution and of calumny, I felt that I was answering all in rising above all.
Jacques Charles
After making man’s first ascent by hydrogen balloon in 1783. Calumny is a false statement maliciously made to injure another's reputation. Quoted in the 1870 book Wonderful Balloon Ascents: Or, the Conquest of the Skies.
Nothing will ever equal that moment of joyous excitement which filled my whole being when I felt myself flying away from the earth. It was not mere pleasure; it was perfect bliss. Escaped from the frightful torments of persecution and of calumny, I felt that I was answering all in rising above all.
To this sentiment succeeded one more lively still — the admiration of the majestic spectacle that spread itself out before us. On whatever side we looked, all was glorious; a cloudless sky above, a most delicious view around. ‘Oh, my friend,’ said I to M. Robert, ‘how great is our good fortune! I care not what may be the condition of the earth; it is the sky that is for me now.
Professor Jacques Charles
First free flight in a manned hydrogen balloon, 1 December 1783. Charles’s law (the law of volumes) is named in his honour.
Note: the exact adjective used by Prof. Charles to describe his emotions in French is not ‘exhilaration’ but “hilarite”, which can be translated as ecstasy, exhilaration, joy and/or excitement. In The Second Aerial Voyage, Roziers and Arlandes, Wonderful Balloon Ascents, 1870.
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