A French historian born in 1955 with a doctorate in history, Marie-Hélène Reynaud is a recognized authority on the industrial and papermaking heritage of the Annonay region (Ardèche), birthplace of the Montgolfier brothers. Curator of the museum and archives of the Canson and Montgolfier paper mills from 1990, she has devoted numerous studies to the early history of ballooning and to the Montgolfier dynasty, including Les Moulins à papier d'Annonay à l'ère pré-industrielle : les Montgolfier et Vidalon. In La conquête de l'espace (Larousse, 1983) she wrote the first part, on "lighter-than-air" flight, from the first ascent of 1783 to the great airships.