Visionary and pioneer of solar flight
Dr Bertrand Piccard is a third-generation psychiatrist, researcher and pioneer. Together with his co-pilot, Brian Jones, he completed the first non-stop circumnavigation of the globe in a balloon in 1999. Alongside his passion for flying, he is also interested in human behaviour in extreme situations. Piccard views himself primarily as an explorer of the human mind, not an explorer of the world. In his books and seminars, he constantly reiterates the importance of sustainable development, the battle against poverty and the promotion of green technologies.
Bertrand Piccard realised his life’s ambition together with André Borschberg as the initiator of Solar Impulse, a project to develop, build and fly a solar-powered aircraft around the world without fuel and without pollutant emissions. The Solar Impulse project is an impressive demonstration of how green technologies can help to preserve our natural resources. The goal of the project is to raise general awareness of the need for energy efficiency and the use of renewables in order to spare and retain the natural resources on our planet for future generations. After 12 years of research and development, the first round-the-world solar flight took place in 2015.
Bertrand Piccard shows us with his unique Solar Impulse project how a pioneering spirit and innovation can change the world permanently.