Science Art: Paillettes de glace eclairées par les rayons du soleil observées en ballon, by M. Albert Tissandier


Click to embiggen

When you’re a pioneering aviator, it pays to have a brother who’s an illustrator.

From the Tissandier collection in the Library of Congress, a dream of the sky from the past.

In 1875, Gaston Tissandier flew higher than anyone had ever gone. Two of his companions died from the altitude and he went deaf. And a few years later, with the help of a Siemens motor, he piloted the first electric-powered flight.