The airship was originally called a ‘dirigible balloon’ by its French inventor Henri Giffard in 1852. Giffard designed a 160-kilogram (350-pound) steam engine with 3 horsepower, enough to spin a big propeller at 110 revolutions per minute. But 1783 can be a date considered as the beginning of airships. In that year two brothers from France invented the first hot-air balloon. And in the 1900 era of Zeppelins began following Ferdinand's Zeppelin design.