Zee Media Bureau\Philaso G Kaping
New Delhi: Search giant Google is commemorating the 216th anniversary of the first parachute jump made by André-Jacques Garnerin with an interactive doodle.
The animated doodle depicts Garnerin in a basket about to make a descent. You have to click either of the two buttons set in a cloud to start playing. You can control the descent of the parachute and determine its landing by using the left and right arrow keys on the keyboard.
Born on 31 January 1769, Garnerin was an inspector with the French army before became a balloonist. He studied under the ballooning pioneer professor Jacques Charles and performed many parachuting trips for exhibitions working mostly with his brother Jean-Baptiste-Olivier Garnerin. Eventually he was appointed Official Aeronaut of France.
Garnerin performed the daring feat on October 22, 1797 at Parc Monceau in Paris using a seven-metre silk parachute. He was lifted up in a basket which was attached to a balloon and after reaching 3,000 feet, he released the balloon to let the parachute unfurled above him.
Although he had a bumpy landing, he emerged unhurt and became the first parachutist.
Garnerin died on 18 August 1823 at a construction site when a beam fell on him while he was building his next balloon.
