Jeannette Piccard held a pilot's license in 1934 and set an altitude record for women balloonists that stood for 28 years. She had a doctorate in organic chemistry from the University of Chicago. At 79, she became one of the first eleven women ordained as Episcopal priests in 1974, in a ceremony the Church initially called irregular before later recognizing as valid. Born on January 5, 1895, in Chicago, she grew up in an era when women were expected to choose between intellect and convention. She chose both and ignored the contradiction. Her balloon flight on October 23, 1934, with her husband Jean as scientific observer, reached 57,579 feet in a hydrogen-filled balloon launched from Dearborn, Michigan. She was the pilot and sole operator. The altitude was a stratospheric record, and the flight gathered data on cosmic radiation that was used in physics research for years afterward. The Piccards were part of an extraordinary family. Her husband Jean and his twin brother Auguste were Swiss-born physicists who both made pioneering balloon and deep-sea explorations. Auguste's dives inspired the naming of Captain Picard in Star Trek. Jeannette taught chemistry, raised three children, and continued research at the University of Minnesota before turning to theology in her later years. The 1974 ordination at the Church of the Advocate in Philadelphia was performed without the approval of the Episcopal bishops. The women who participated knew they were defying institutional authority. The Church ratified the ordinations two years later. Piccard served as a deacon at St. Philip's Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, until her death on May 17, 1981.