1797 First High-Altitude Parachute Jump: French balloonist André-Jacques Garnerin made the first recorded frameless parachute jump from a hydrogen balloon approximately 3,200 feet over Paris. 1884 Greenwich Chosen as the Prime Meridian: At the International Meridian Conference in Washington, D.C., representatives from 26 nations voted to adopt Greenwich, England, as the zero-degree longitude line for … Continue reading This Day In History