Lenormand jumps from the tower of the Montpellier observatory, 1783. Louis-S矇bastien Lenormand (May 25, 1757 - December 1837) was a French physicist, inventor and pioneer in parachuting. He is considered the first human to make a witnessed descent with a parachute and is also credited with coining the term parachute (from the Greek para (against), and French chute (fall). After making a jump from a tree with the help of two modified umbrellas Lenormand refined his contraption and on December 26, 1783 jumped from the tower of the Montpellier observatory in front of a crowd that included Joseph Montgolfier, using a 14 foot parachute with a rigid wooden frame. His intended use for the parachute was to help entrapped occupants of a burning building to escape unharmed. After this public demonstration he devoted himself to establishing the science of "pure technology". He became a Carthusian monk. During the French Revolution he had to renounce his priesthood and marry. In 1830 he renounced his marriage and resumed his religious life as Brother Chrysostom. He died in 1837 at the age of 80.