Der Traum vom Fliegen von der Antike bis zu den Ballonaufstiegen im Großbritanien des ausgehenden 18. Jahrhunderts (English shop)

Eine wissenschaftsgeschichtliche Studie

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Being able to fly is one of humanity’s oldest dreams. Yet why did it take until the eighteenth century for this dream to be realised? In her study, the author examines both the scientific-technical and the literary engagement with the idea of flight from antiquity to the balloon ascents in eighteenth-century Britain, and concludes that the balloon, as a European product of the Enlightenment, could only come about through the interplay of technology and fiction. In the second part of her book, the author traces the changes in the literary and scientific-technical engagement with the idea of flight at the end of the eighteenth century that were brought about by the invention of the balloon in 1783. She also considers the first balloon ascents in Britain from a cultural studies perspective, describing not only the staging practices employed by the first balloonists in Britain to attract the attention of the public, but also illuminating the rise of the balloon as a cultural artefact, which not only appeared on everyday objects such as plates, snuffboxes, handkerchiefs and other accessories, but also found its way into the night sky as the constellation Globus Aerostaticus.