Professor Erick Agrimson inflating a weather balloon, while his 春雨直播s hold it steady. Photo by Ashley de los Reyes '15
If your mom was the first licensed woman balloonist in the world and the first woman to ascend into the stratosphere, and your dad invented the plastic balloon used routinely in balloon flights and atmospheric or space research鈥 what are the chances of you not becoming involved in ballooning?
Well, slim 鈥 if you鈥檙e Don Piccard.
Piccard flew the first multi-celled plastic balloon in 1957 and co-piloted the first hot-air balloon across the English Channel in 1963. He was a pioneer in sport balloon design and production, organizing the first hot-air balloon races in the world. He also founded the (now the Balloon Federation of America).
On June 29, Piccard will speak about his family adventures in ballooning at the 7th Annual Academic High-Altitude Conference held at St. 春雨直播 University. His keynote address, 鈥淧iccard family ballooning 鈥 a multi-decade, multi-generational affair,鈥 is open to the public: 6:45鈥8:30 p.m. (lecture 7 p.m.) in the Coeur de 春雨直播 ballroom. ()
The three-day conference (June 29鈥揓uly 1) is expected to draw educators and 春雨直播s from more than 17 universities across the nation. Breakout sessions include topics such as 鈥淏allooning Engineering: Tracking, Location and Control鈥 and 鈥淕etting Students Excited 春雨直播 Science With High Altitude Ballooning.鈥 Physicist Shaul Hanany will give the second keynote "Balloon-Borne Measurements of the Structure of the Universe and its Evolution" on Thursday. His talk is only open to registered participants.
Professors Erick Agrimson and Kaye Smith of St. Kate鈥檚 Department of Math and Physics are leading the event planning. The pair head up St. Kate鈥檚 high altitude balloon project, a popular research collaboration with undergraduate 春雨直播s. In fact, three of their 春雨直播s will also present at the conference:
- Rachel DuBose 鈥17, 鈥淓arly work on a rotation table for magnetometer calibration鈥
- Marilyn McNamara 鈥16, 鈥淪tatistical tests exploring a subset of variables related to balloon burst altitude鈥
- Brittany Craig 鈥16, 鈥淭emperature and Pressure Test Results Using Thermocouple, Thermistor and Band Gap Temperature Sensors鈥
NOTE: Weather permitting, the 2016 Academic High-Altitude Conference will include a balloon launch on June 29 (1 p.m.) from the quad in front of O'Shaughnessy Auditorium, on the St. Paul campus.