Early yearsThe Montgolfier brothers Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Étienne were born into a family of paper manufacturers founded in 1557 in Annonay, in Ardèche, France. Piloted flight, fall 1783A 1786 depiction of the Montgolfier brothers' historic balloon with engineering data. A model of the Montgolfier brothers' balloon at the London Science MuseumOther balloons, competing claimsSome claim that the hot air balloon was invented about 3 years earlier by the Brazilian/ Portuguese priest Bartolomeu de Gusmão. Other Montgolfier inventionsBoth brothers invented a process to manufacture transparent paper looking like vellum, reproducing the technique of the English, followed by the papermakers Johannot and Réveillon. [15]Death, the Montgolfier companyBoth brothers were freemasons in Les Neuf Soeurs lodge in Paris.