Louis-Sébastien Lenormand

Louis-Sébastien Lenormand was a French chemist, physicist, inventor and monk who lived from 1757 to 1837, and who was the first man in history to use a parachute. He was born in Montpellier, the son of a clockmaker, and between 1775 and 1780 he studied physics and chemistry in Paris under Lavoisier and Berthollet. After returning to his native town he worked in his father's clock shop while beginning his experiments with parachuting, and before his public jump from the observatory tower he tested his parachutes using animals. He is credited with coining the word parachute.