Wilhelmine Reichard
Wilhelmine Reichard | |
|---|---|
 Wilhelmine Reichard around 1820 | |
| Born | 2 March 1788 |
| Died | 22 February 1848 (aged 59) |
| Occupation | Balloonist |
| Known for | First solo balloon flight of a German woman |
| Spouse | Johann Gottfried Reichard |
Johanne Wilhelmine Siegmundine Reichard (nee Schmidt) (April 2, 1788, Braunschweig, Germany – February 22, 1848, Döhlen, Germany) was the first German women balloonist.
Biography
Reichard was the daughter of a cup-bearer of the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg. She married the chemist and physicist Johann Gottfried Reichard in 1807 and their first child was born in 1807. The family moved in 1810 to Berlin. In 1810 Johann Gottfried Reichard started to his first flight in a self-constructed and built gas balloon from Berlin, making him the second person to conduct flights in a gas balloon in Germany.[1][2]
On April 16, 1811, Wilhemine Reichard conducted her first solo flight starting in Berlin. She reached a height of above 5,000 metres (16,000 ft) and landed safely in Genshagen 33.5 kilometres (20.8 mi) from the starting place. This was not the first solo flight of a woman in Germany; the Frenchwoman Sophie Blanchard conducted one of her flights starting from Frankfurt in September 1810. Reichard's third flight in 1811 reached a height of approximately 7,800 metres (25,600 ft). She became unconscious and her balloon crash-landed in a forest. She was badly injured but saved by local farmers.[1][2][3]
After some problems during the Napoleonic wars, her husband wanted to purchase a chemical factory in Döhlen. To raise the money, Reichard conducted several flights. The first flight after her accident in 1811 took place in October 1816.[1][2] One flight took place during the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle in Aachen 1818. Flights in Prague and Vienna also made her known in Austria-Hungary. Her last flight was in October 1820, starting in Munich at the Oktoberfest, which was held on the 10th anniversary of the first Oktoberfest. In 1821, the chemical factory started operations.[1][2]
Wilhelmine's husband conducted balloon flights until 1835. He died in 1844. Wilhelmine led the chemical factory until her death in 1848.[1][2]
References
- ^ a b c d e Probst, Ernst (2010-08). Königinnen der Lüfte in Europa (in German). ISBN 9783640688760.
{{cite book}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Text "page 197–210" ignored (help) - ^ a b c d e "Wilhelmine Reichard - Deutschlands erste Ballonfahrerin Freital.de" (in German). Retrieved 2011-04-21.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|530.2904.1&NavID=ignored (help) - ^ Reichard, G (1812). "Beschreibung der von Wilhelmine Reichard, geb. Schmidt, unternommenen dritten Lfuftfahrt". Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung (in German).
Further readings
- Heide Monjau (2009). Wilhelmine Reichard: Erste Deutsche Ballonfahrerin 1788 Bis 1848 Eine Dokumentarische Biographie (in German). ISBN 9783000030512.
- Haude, Rüdiger (2007). Grenzflüge: politische Symbolik der Luftfahrt vor dem Ersten Weltkrieg : das Beispiel Aachen (in German). ISBN 9783412200596.
- "Wilhelmine Reichard" (in German). Stadtwiki Dresden.
- Probst, Ernst (2010). Wilhelmine Reichard (in German). doi:10.3239/9783640545742. ISBN 9783640545742.
- Monjau, Heide (2003), "Reichard, Johanne Wilhelmine (Minna) Siegmundine", Neue Deutsche Biographie (in German), vol. 21, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 293–294