Dr. C.H. Agee

A Life Spent Looking Up

Charles-Henri Agee was born in 1868 in a crooked little house above Lake Geneva, the son of a clockmaker and a woman who kept bees. By the age of seven he had taken apart every clock in the house; by nine he had tied his mother's parasol to a wheelbarrow and launched himself, briefly but gloriously, off the roof of the hen house.

He studied Natural Philosophy at Lausanne, where his professors described him as "brilliant, untidy, and frequently on the roof." His doctoral thesis, On the Manners and Customs of the Wind, was the first serious attempt to ask the air politely how it would like to be flown through.

In 1891 he moved into a windmill on the edge of a cow pasture and turned it into a workshop of springs, silk, bamboo and bicycle parts. Neighbours grew used to the sound of whistling, hammering and the occasional splash in the duck pond. Some say he flew a full summer before anyone else thought to write such a thing down; the Doctor himself never cared who was first, only that the view was lovely.

He was last seen in the autumn of 1931, drifting cheerfully over the Alps in his balloon. On his workbench he left a single note: "Gone to fetch the weather. Back by Sunday." His workshop lamp, they say, is still left burning.

Notable Inventions

• 🚲 1889

  The Velocipede Ornithopter

  A bicycle with flapping canvas wings. Pedal hard enough downhill and it rose a full three metres — mostly by surprise.

• ☂ 1893

  The Parapluie Volant

  A folding umbrella-glider for the gentleman aviator. Doubled as excellent protection from rain, pigeons and critics.

• 🎈 1898

  The Albatross

  His masterpiece: a striped hot-air balloon with great gull wings, steered by a ship's wheel and a very patient goat named Odile.

• ⚙ 1904

  The Clockwork Propeller

  A wind-up motor built from his father's old clock springs. Forty turns of the key gave a full minute of flight.

• 🧭 1911

  The Whistling Altimeter

  A brass instrument that sang a higher note the higher you flew. Pilots learned to land by humming along.

• ⚓ 1923

  The Cloud Anchor

  A feather-light grappling hook for mooring to a passing cumulus while one had lunch. Results varied with the weather.