Julian Nott – Intellectual Courage and Its Role in Discovery

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Julian Nott, known worldwide as the founder of the modern ballooning movement, spoke about his belief that “intellectual courage” drives advancements in every field as much as brilliant minds. Julian began his career as a balloonist as many men do, to impress a lady. Once he started, he kept flying higher, setting 79 world ballooning record. Today, he is working on a project with NASA to develop a balloon that could deploy above Titan, Saturn’s moon. Much like technological and ideological advancements throughout history, the likelihood of sending a balloon to Titan seemed near impossible at the outset of the project but Nott believes that not only will a balloon get to Titan, but currently unimaginable advancements will take place, including manned missions to Mars. All it takes, says Nott, is the courage to do something impossible.