The brothers, Joseph Michel Montgolfier (26 August 1740 – 26 June 1810) and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier (6 January 1745 – 2 August 1799) were the inventors of the montgolfière, globe airostatique or European hot air balloon. The brothers succeeded in launching the first manned ascent to carry a young physician and an audacious army officer into the sky.

Early years
Of the two brothers, it was Joseph who first contemplated building "machines". Gillispie puts it as early as 1777 when Joseph observed laundry drying over a fire incidentally form pockets that billowed upwards.

Initial experiments
The brothers decided to make a public demonstration of a balloon in order to establish their claim to its invention. They constructed a globe-shaped balloon of sackcloth with three thin layers of paper inside. The envelope could contain nearly 790 m³ (28,000 cubic feet) of air and weighed 225 kg (500 lb). It was constructed of four pieces (the dome and three lateral bands), and held together by some 1,800 buttons. A reinforcing "fish net" of cord covered the outside of the envelope.
On 4 June 1783, they flew this craft as their first public demonstration at Annonay in front of a group of dignitaries from the Etats particulars. Its flight covered 2 km (1.2 mi), lasted 10 minutes, and had an estimated altitude of 1.600 - 2.000m (5,200 - 6,600 ft). Word of their success quickly reached Paris. Etienne went to the capital to make further demonstrations and to solidify the brothers' claim to the invention of flight. Joseph, given his unkempt appearance and shyness, remained with the family. Etienne was the epithome of sober virtues ... modest in clothes and manner...

Public demonstrations
With the successful demonstration at Versailles, and again in collaboration with Réveillon, Etienne started construction of a 60,000 cubic foot balloon for the purpose of making flights with humans. The craft was 75 feet tall and 46 feet in diameter. The balloon was tested in tethered flights on 15 October by Pilâtre de Rozier, a twenty-six-year-old physician, who offered his services. On the 17 October the experiment was repeated before a group of scientists and 19 October Rozier and André Giroud de Villette, a wallpaper manufacturer from Madrid, reached 324 foot within 15 seconds along retaining ropes.
On 21 November the first free flight by humans was made Pilâtre, together with an army officer, the marquis d'Arlandes. The flight began near the Bois de Boulogne in the parc of the Château de la Muette in the western outskirts of Paris. They flew aloft about 3,000 feet above Paris for a distance of nine kilometres. After 25 minutes the machine landed between the windmills, outside the city ramparts, on the Butte-aux-Cailles. Enough fuel remained on board at the end of the flight to have allowed the balloon to fly four to five times as far. However, burning embers from the fire were scorching the balloon fabric and had to be daubed out with sponges. As it appeared it could destroy the balloon, Pilâtre took off his coat to stop the fire.
The ascensions made a sensation. Numerous engravings commemorated the events. Chairs were designed with balloon backs, and mantel clocks were produced in enamel and gilt-bronze replicas set with a dial in the balloon. One could buy crockery decorated with naive pictures of balloons.

Competing claims
Although balloons employing heated air for lift were used from time to time, the modern revival of the hot air balloon began on 22 October 1960 in Bruning, Nebraska on when Ed Yost improved the safety of the classic Montgolfier design by using a plastic envelope and a kerosene fueled heater.
Today, hot air balloons that use propane fuel and ripstop nylon envelopes are by far the predominant method for obtaining buoyant flight.