Max Cosyns
{{Short description|Belgian physicist, caver, and explorer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2024}}
{{Infobox scientist
|name = Max Cosyns
|image = File:Professeur Cosijns vers 1935 - FNRS et la sphère de Piccard (cropped).jpg
|caption = 1935
|birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1906|5|29}}
|birth_place = Belgium
|death_date = {{Death date and age|df=y|1998|3|30|1906|5|29}}
|nationality = Belgian
|field = physics, inventor, explorer
|work_institution =Free University of Brussels (now Université libre de Bruxelles and Vrije Universiteit Brussel)
|signature = Solvay1933Signature Cosyns.jpg
}}
Max Cosyns (29 May 1906 – 30 March 1998) was a Belgian physicist, inventor, explorer and speleologist.
Early life and education
Max Cosyns was Auguste Piccard's assistant at the Université libre de Bruxelles and on 18 August 1932 participated in the record-breaking ascent into the stratosphere to 16,200 m (53,152 ft), launched from Dübendorf, Switzerland. For this he was awarded the Cross of Knight of the Order of Leopold by the Belgian King in 1932.[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1932/1932%20-%200942.html 16 September 1932]. Flightglobal, PDF. Retrieved 30 September 2009.
Career
On 18 August 1934, Cosyns together with his student Nérée van der Elst piloted a balloon to an altitude of 52,952 feet. Following a take-off from Hour-Havenne in Belgium, they flew over Germany and Austria before landing near the village of Ženavlje (now in Slovenia). They were unsuccessful in maintaining satisfactory radio communication with ground, but were able to make observations of the currents in the stratosphere as well as investigate the nature of the cosmic rays. They failed to beat the height record, but stated on landing that they were fully satisfied with their discoveries.Gregory P. Kennedy, [http://www.ispyspace.com/1900_to_1950.html Chronology of Human Space Exploration Part 1: 1900 – 1950]. Retrieved 30 September 2009.[https://web.archive.org/web/20101125090509/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,747787,00.html Aeronautics: Up, Drift, Down] Time Magazine Monday, 27 August 1934. Retrieved 30 September 2009.{{cite magazine|url=http://www.lookandlearn.com/childrens-newspaper/CN340901-002.pdf|title=The Explorers of the Sky, Investigating the Cosmic Rays|magazine=Look and Learn|year=2007}} A large bronze monument in the shape of a balloon was erected in 1997 on the spot of their landing in Ženavlje to commemorate the event.[http://rkd.situla.org/ Slovenian Ministry of Culture register of national heritage] reference number 17195
Second World War resistance
In the Second World War, he joined the Resistance and was imprisoned in Dachau concentration camp.
After the war he was co-director of the FNRS-2 bathyscaphe expedition in Dakar in 1948.
In 1952, he was in charge of the speleological expedition to the Gouffre de La Pierre Saint-Martin cave system in the Pyrenees. The French speleologist Marcel Loubens, died in an accident with an electric hoist during the ascent after spending four days in the cave when the steel cable snapped. Cosyns as head of the expedition and due to his involvement in the design of the winch was considered responsible for the accident.[http://juraspeleo.ffspeleo.fr/docu/presse/1952_psm/19520818_01.htm] Le Progrès. 18 August 1952[https://books.google.com/books?id=WVYEAAAAMBAJ&dq=Cosyns%20Loubens&pg=PA14] Life Magazine 1 September 1952Occhialini and the Università Libre de Bruxelles. An interview by L. Gariboldi in The Scientific Legacy of Beppo Occhialini, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2006, {{ISBN|978-3-540-37353-7}}
Personal life
Cosyns married fellow Belgian resistance member and lawyer Andrée Grandjean.{{Cite book |last=Gubin (historica.) |first=Éliane |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fIPj8NRvuNAC&q=grandjean |title=Dictionnaire des femmes belges: XIXe et XXe siècles |date=2006 |publisher=Lannoo Uitgeverij |isbn=978-2-87386-434-7 |language=fr}}
Notes
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.ballong.org/peter/jesper/cia/report.php?period=06&title=Part%206,%201926-1950 CIA notable flights and achievements Part 6, 1926–1950]
- {{PM20|FID=pe/003499}}
{{Authority control}}
{{S-start}}
{{Succession box
| title = Human altitude record
| years = 1932–1933
| with = Auguste Piccard
| before = Auguste Piccard and Paul Kipfer
| after = USSR-1
}}
{{S-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cosyns, Max}}