Nicolas-Jacques Conté
Nicolas-Jacques Conté | |
---|---|
Born | 4 August 1755 |
Died | 6 December 1805 | (aged 50)
Nationality | French |
Nicolas-Jacques Conté (4 August 1755 – 6 December 1805) was a French
He was born at Saint-Céneri-près-Sées (now Aunou-sur-Orne) in Normandy and distinguished himself for his mechanical genius, which was of great avail to the French army in Egypt. Napoleon called him “a universal man with taste, understanding and genius capable of creating the arts of France in the middle of the Arabian Desert”.[citation needed]
Aeronautics
One of his early interests while still at Sées was in the newly developing science of aeronautics. He made at least one
In Egypt, Conté was called on to exercise his expertise in ballooning and was asked to prepare an ascent for the celebration of the French New Year on 22 September 1798. He was not sufficiently prepared, so the event was postponed to 1 December. On that occasion his efforts met with a near disaster. The balloon caught fire, and the Egyptians received the impression that what had been demonstrated was a machine of war for setting fire to the enemy encampments. At a second attempt with a larger balloon, it is said that the ascent was witnessed in Esbekia Square by 100,000. It is probable that the use of the balloon in Egypt was limited to impressing the local population and was never found suitable for military purposes. Al-Jabarti, (‘Abd al-Rahman al-Jabarti al-Misri) in his account of the ascent said: “Their claim that this apparatus is like a vessel in which people sit and travel to other countries in order to discover news and other falsifications did not appear to be true.”
Writing and drawing equipment
Conté invented the modern
At the 1798 Exposition des produits de l'industrie française Conté won an honorable distinction, the highest award, for his "crayons of various colours".[2]
References
- ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
- Gallica.
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Wood, James, ed. (1907). "Conte, Nicolas Jacques". The Nuttall Encyclopædia. London and New York: Frederick Warne.