This is an article written by Jacques Piccard for the National Geographic Magazine of the Bathyscaphe Trieste dive to the bottom of the Challenger Deep. “Do you think we shall be able to make the dive?” The voice of our…
The National Fund for Scientific Research (NFSR) was founded on 2 June 1928 after a call by king Albert I of Belgium for more resources for scientific research. Among the earliest NFSR projects funded were the stratosphere flights of professor Auguste Piccard. The FNRS Stratospheric balloon that set…
I came across the name Piccard a few years ago with Bertrand the grandson of physicist inventor Auguste Piccard. Bertrand was a famous high altitude balloonist and aviator having recently completed the round the world flight of a solar powered…
I’ve been intrigued in the latest designs in the Americas Cup sailing boats, should I say these new race boats are in reality levitating above the water to reduce drag and increase speed through the water. Hydrofoils have been in…
Many years ago I read two interesting books” Human Jungle and The Naked Ape “written by the eminent zoologist, writer and artist Desmond Morris who’s now in his 90’s. Desmond as an artist and naturalist was great observer of animal…
As school boy I was interested in aviation and loved to build plastic Airfix models of mostly Second World War aeroplanes and also First World War biplanes. One of the aircraft I built was a First World War biplane Vickers…
What is an ice sheet? Together, the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets contain more than 99 percent of the freshwater ice on Earth. An ice sheet is a mass of glacial land ice extending more than 50,000 square kilometers (20,000 square miles).…
The 75th anniversary of the D Day landing was celebrated on 6th June 2019. Back on the 6 June 2014 I was on passage to the canaries islands and had stopped at Cherbourg to see and watch the reenactment of…