Bertrand Piccard

Bertrand Piccard FRSGS (born 1 March 1958) is a Swiss explorer, psychiatrist and environmentalist.

Along with Brian Jones, he was the first to complete a non-stop balloon flight around the globe, in a balloon named Breitling Orbiter 3.

He was the initiator, chairman, and pilot, with André Borschberg, of Solar Impulse, the first successful round-the-world solar-powered flight.

In Europe, he was one of the pioneers of hang gliding and microlight flying during the 1970s.

He became the European hang-glider aerobatics champion in 1985.

On 1 March 1999, Piccard and Brian Jones took off in the balloon Breitling Orbiter 3, a bright red, carbon-composite, egg-shaped craft measuring sixteen feet long and seven feet in diameter, from Château d'Oex in Switzerland on the first successful non-stop balloon circumnavigation of the globe—- the first in-atmospheric circumnavigation not requiring any fuel for forward motion.

Piccard and Jones, in cooperation with a team of meteorologists on the ground, maneuvered into a series of jet streams that carried them 25,361 miles to land in Egypt after a 45755 km flight lasting 19 days, 21 hours, and 47 minutes.

In recognition of this accomplishment, Piccard received awards including the Harmon Trophy, the FAI Gold Air Medal and the Charles Green Salver.

During November 2003, Piccard announced a project, in cooperation with the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), for a solar-powered, long-range aircraft named Solar Impulse.

By 2006, he had assembled a multi-disciplinary team of fifty specialists from six countries, assisted by approximately one hundred outside advisers.

The project was financed by a number of private companies and individuals in Europe.

The first company to fund the project officially was Semper, after Eric Freymond was convinced of its future success by Piccard.

Owing to international funding for the project, the Solar Impulse is a European craft, not a Swiss one, despite scientific and medical assistance from the EPFL and Hirslanden Clinique Cecil.

Piccard began construction in 2007, and conducted brief test flights in 2009 with André Borschberg.

In 2010, Solar Impulse 1 (Si1) made its first nighttime flight.

In 2011, it landed at Bourget Field in Paris.

In 2012 Piccard was awarded a Champions of the Earth award by the UN Environment Programme.

He is the founder and chairman of the Solar Impulse Foundation.

Piccard was born in Lausanne, Switzerland.

His grandfather Auguste Piccard was a balloonist and undersea explorer, and his father Jacques Piccard was an undersea explorer.

As a child, Piccard was taken to the launch of several space flights from Cape Canaveral.

Initially afraid of heights, at age 16 he took up hang gliding.

He developed early interests in flight and human behaviour in extreme situations.

He received a degree from the University of Lausanne in psychiatry.

Piccard has since become a lecturer and supervisor at the Swiss Medical Society for Hypnosis (SMSH).

Piccard obtained licences to fly balloons, airplanes, gliders, and motorized gliders.

In 2012, it made its first intercontinental flight from Switzerland to Morocco in two legs.

The first leg in the one-seater aircraft was piloted by Borschberg from Payerne, Switzerland to Madrid, Spain, and the second leg by Piccard from Madrid to Rabat, Morocco.

in 2013, he and Borschberg traversed the United States from Mountain View, California to JFK Airport in New York City.

There were several stops along the way, including Washington, D.C.

In 2015, Solar Impulse set out to accomplish the first round-the-world solar flight in history.

The voyage consisted of multiple flights starting on 9 March and was scheduled to conclude about five months later.

In order to switch pilots, stopovers were scheduled at locations in India, Myanmar, China, The United States, and southern Europe or northern Africa.

Piccard was named a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Environment Programme in December 2015, partway through his solar flight around the world.

Piccard piloted the ninth segment of the round-the-world trip and landed the Solar Impulse 2 (Si2) in Moffett Field in California on 24 April 2016 after three days of flying from Kalaeloa Airport, Hawaii.

André Borschberg and Piccard completed their circumnavigation of the globe with the solar-powered aircraft Solar Impulse on 26 July 2016.

On the same day, they announced the creation of the World Alliance for Clean Technologies.

Four months after the completion of the flight, during the 2016 United Nations Climate Change Conference, Piccard and the Solar Impulse Foundation launched the UNEP-endorsed non-profit World Alliance for Clean Technologies.

For his role in delivering and piloting Solar Impulse, Bertrand was awarded the Mungo Park Medal by the Royal Scottish Geographical Society in 2018.

This was awarded jointly with André Borschberg.