November 21 Birthday
On November 21, 1783, Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d'Arlandes made the first manned free flight in a hot air balloon. They flew over Paris for twenty-five minutes, reaching an altitude of 3,000 feet. The balloon was designed by the Montgolfier brothers. King Louis XVI had wanted to use condemned prisoners for the first flight, but Pilâtre de Rozier persuaded him to use humans. Benjamin Franklin watched from the ground. When asked what use the balloon was, Franklin replied: "What use is a newborn baby?" Voltaire, born this day in 1694 as François-Marie Arouet, spent eleven months in the Bastille for satirizing the French nobility. He wrote Candide (1759) in three days. He championed freedom of speech and religious tolerance. He said: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it" — though this was actually written by his biographer. People born on November 21 fall under the zodiac sign of Scorpio. The birthstone is Topaz and the birth flower is Chrysanthemum. Historical events on November 21 include 1783: First manned hot air balloon flight in Paris (by Pilâtre de Rozier), 1877: Thomas Edison announces invention of the phonograph, 1964: Verrazano-Narrows Bridge opens in New York (longest suspension bridge at time). Famous people born on November 21 include Voltaire (1694), Goldie Hawn (1945), Harold Ramis (1944).