Interactive Google Doodle Celebrates First Parachute Jump

Today's Google Doodle is an animated tribute to balloonist André-Jacques Garnerin, the inventor of the parachute, and his first parachute jump

Garnerin invented the frameless parachute and carried out the first descent with a silk parachute on 22 October 1797 at Parc Monceau in Paris. He used a hot-air balloon to bring him and his parachute up to 3,000 feet, and though it was a bumpy trip, with the parachute wildly swinging on the way down, he managed to get down to Earth without injury.

The animated Doodle depicts the event and even lets you steer the parachute left or right with the arrow keys, so no two "jumps" are the same Read more...