Bertrand Piccard
A psychiatrist who pilots balloons and solar planes, using adventure to prove that clean technologies can achieve the impossible.
Born 1958 (age 68)·Swiss balloonist and psychiatrist·Birthday: March 1·Baby Boomers
Biography
Bertrand Piccard was born into a dynasty of explorers—his grandfather dove to the stratosphere, his father to the ocean floor—but he charted his own course by first becoming a psychiatrist. This background in the human mind proved crucial for his true calling: pushing the limits of human endurance and technology. In 1999, he co-piloted the Breitling Orbiter 3, a bulbous balloon that drifted non-stop around the world, a feat of patience and skill that had eluded adventurers for decades. Never one to rest, he then turned his ambition toward a new frontier: energy. He co-founded Solar Impulse, a spindly, sun-powered aircraft that looked more like a dragonfly than a plane. In 2016, after a marathon, multi-leg journey, it completed the first circumnavigation of the globe without a drop of fuel. For Piccard, these journeys were never just stunts; they were vivid, public experiments designed to shift perception and champion the practical potential of renewable energy.
Baby Boomers
1946–1964
The largest generation in history at the time. Shaped by postwar prosperity, the Vietnam War, the sexual revolution, and Watergate. They questioned every institution their parents built — then ran them.
Bertrand was born in 1958, placing them squarely in the Baby Boomers. The events that shaped this generation — postwar prosperity, civil rights, Vietnam, and the counterculture — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Bertrand Was Born
The biggest hits of 1958
#1 Movie
South Pacific
Best Picture
Gigi
#1 TV Show
Gunsmoke
Bertrand's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1958Born
NASA founded
Gas: $0.31/galHome: $11,050Min wage: $1.00/hrPresident: Dwight D. Eisenhower"Volare" — Domenico ModugnoBest Picture: Gigi
1963Started school
JFK assassinated in Dallas; Martin Luther King's 'I Have a Dream' speech
Gas: $0.31/galHome: $13,100Min wage: $1.25/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"Sugar Shack" — Jimmy Gilmer & The FireballsBest Picture: Tom Jones
1971Became a teenager
Voting age lowered to 18 in the US
Gas: $0.36/galHome: $18,100Min wage: $1.60/hrPresident: Richard Nixon"Joy to the World" — Three Dog NightBest Picture: The French Connection
1974Could drive
Nixon resigns the presidency
Gas: $0.53/galHome: $22,600Min wage: $2.00/hrPresident: Gerald Ford"The Way We Were" — Barbra StreisandBest Picture: The Godfather Part II
1976Could vote
Apple Computer founded; US bicentennial
Gas: $0.59/galHome: $29,300Min wage: $2.30/hrPresident: Gerald Ford"Silly Love Songs" — WingsBest Picture: Rocky
1979Turned 21
Iran hostage crisis begins; Three Mile Island accident
Gas: $0.86/galHome: $37,900Min wage: $2.90/hrPresident: Jimmy Carter"My Sharona" — The KnackBest Picture: Kramer vs. Kramer
1988Turned 30
Pan Am Flight 103 bombed over Lockerbie
Gas: $0.90/galHome: $74,800Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"Faith" — George MichaelBest Picture: Rain Man
1998Turned 40
Google founded; Clinton impeachment
Gas: $1.06/galHome: $107,300Min wage: $5.15/hrPresident: Bill Clinton"Too Close" — NextBest Picture: Shakespeare in Love
2008Turned 50
Barack Obama elected first Black US president; financial crisis
Gas: $3.27/galHome: $153,100Min wage: $6.55/hrPresident: George W. Bush"Low" — Flo RidaBest Picture: Slumdog Millionaire
2018Turned 60
Royal wedding of Harry and Meghan; Parkland shooting
Gas: $2.72/galHome: $211,800Min wage: $7.25/hrPresident: Donald Trump"God's Plan" — DrakeBest Picture: Green Book
2026Age 68 today
Gas: $3.91/galPresident: Donald Trump
Key Achievements
- Co-piloted the Breitling Orbiter 3 to complete the first non-stop balloon flight around the world in 1999.
- Co-piloted and championed the Solar Impulse project, achieving the first round-the-world flight in a solar-powered aircraft (2015-2016).
- Awarded the UN Environment Programme's Champions of the Earth award in 2012.
- Founded the Solar Impulse Foundation, which identifies and promotes 1000+ profitable clean technology solutions.
Did You Know?
He is a licensed psychiatrist and hypnotherapist.
He served as a scientific advisor for the European Space Agency on human behavior in confined environments.
His twin brother, also an adventurer, flew a solar-powered airplane across the English Channel in 2015.
The Piccard family holds world records for reaching the highest point in the atmosphere and the deepest point in the ocean.
““Exploration is not about conquering territories, but about conquering new ways of thinking.””
