In the year 1783, scientific progress met old-fashioned beliefs. On an otherwise normal day, a group of French villagers got quite a surprise. Down from the sky, a strange creature slowly floated. With pitchforks and other farm tools, the villagers struck the creature. Under this furious attack, the creature finally stopped moving.
To the eighteenth-century villagers, the object from the sky looked like a monster. At the time of the monster's visit, very few people had ever seen a balloon. From his science studies, Professor Jacques A. C. Charles had learned that a newly discovered gas called hydrogen weighed less than air. When he filled a sack with this gas, the sack floated into the air. From the heart of Paris, Charles had released his balloon, and then watched as it floated away. In their attack, the villagers destroyed the first hydrogen balloon.
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