Jeanne Geneviève Garnerin

Jeanne Geneviève Garnerin, born Labrosse (1775 to 1847), was a French balloonist and parachutist. She learned to fly as the pupil of the hydrogen balloonist Andre-Jacques Garnerin, whom she watched at Parc Monceau in Paris in 1797 and flew with in November 1798. On 12 October 1799 she rose in a balloon gondola, detached the balloon and came down by parachute from about 900 metres, the first woman to make a parachute descent, and she is credited as the first to ascend solo. In 1802 she filed a patent for the parachute on behalf of her husband. The couple toured England in 1802 and made demonstration flights over London, one of her descents being estimated at 8,000 feet, and she kept flying across France and Europe until her husband died in 1823.