Benjamin Franklin, in charge of all things wise, was the American ambassador to France when he witnessed the successful ascent of an unmanned hydrogen-filled balloon on August 27, 1783. As the twelve-foot globe shot up in the sky until it seemed no bigger than an orange, a skeptic said the flight was interesting but wondered what use it could have. Franklin, our history primers tell us, growled, “What use is a new born babe?”

Whether Franklin ever actually uttered this famous aphorism is questionable, but we do know that his scientific mind quickly grasped the implications of the flight. Balloons, he noted, “may be sufficient for … elevating an engineer to take view of an enemy’s army, and conveying intelligence into, or out of a besieged town, giving signals to distant places.”

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