Jean F. Rozier (365)

Jean-François, Pilâtre de Rozier (30 March 1754–15 June 1785) was a chemist, physicist and a member of the American Philosophical Society, elected in 1775. Born in Metz, France, where he studied as an apothecary before attending scientific courses in Paris, de Rozier began his career teaching physics in Paris. He briefly left to serve as professor of chemistry at the Societe d’Emulation of Rheims before returning to Paris in 1780 upon the request of the Compte de Provence, brother of the King, to serve as keeper of his physics and natural history cabinets. Enabled by the Compte’s patronage, de Rozier founded a private museum in 1781 to serve as an educational resource for Parisians. By 1785, the museum had a thriving community of 700 members, including many of the age’s leading academics. While he became known as a great lecturer through his work at the museum, many found de Rozier’s experimental capabilities lacking: all his submissions to the Academie des Sciences failed to win him a membership (1781-1784), and an attempt to cross the English channel by hot-air balloon ended in his balloon going up in flames and crashing down to earth, killing both him and his flight partner (1785). Nevertheless, de Rozier is remembered for being one of two humans to be the first to achieve flight in an earlier hot-air balloon ride (1783), and his museum, despite multiple name-changes, was a staple in the academic and cultural spheres of Paris until the mid-nineteenth century.