Alberto Santos-Dumont
Alberto Santos-Dumont was born on 20th of July, 1873, the heir to a wealthy family in Palmira, in the state of Minas Gerais. He was one of the few people to have pioneered the early development of both lighter-than-air and heavier-than-air aircraft.
Alberto Santos-Dumont
He designed, built, and flew the first powered airships and won the Deutsch Prize in 1901, when he flew around the Eiffel Tower in his airship No. 6, becoming one of the most famous people in the world in the early 20th century.
Santos-Dumont then progressed to powered heavier-than-air machines and on 23 October 1906 flew about 60 metres at a height of two to three metres with the fixed-wing 14-bis (also dubbed the Oiseau de Proie—"bird of prey") at the Bagatelle Gamefield in Paris, taking off unassisted by an external launch system.
SANTOS DUMONT'S FIRST SUCCESS WITH A FLYING MACHINE
On 12 November in front of a crowd, he flew 220 metres at a height of six metres. These were the first heavier-than-air flights certified by the Aeroclub of France, the first such flights officially witnessed by an aeronautics recordkeeping body, and the first of their kind recognised by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale.
SANTOS DUMONT'S FIRST SUCCESS WITH A FLYING MACHINE