Alberto Santos-Dumont

Alberto Santos-Dumont was a Brazilian aeronautical engineer and aviator who became one of the most celebrated pioneers of both airship and airplane flight in the early twentieth century. On October 19, 1901, he flew his airship No. 6 in a controlled loop around the Eiffel Tower in twenty-nine minutes and thirty seconds, winning the Deutsch de la Meurthe Prize and international fame. In October and November 1906, flying his fixed-wing 14-bis aircraft in Paris, he made what the Aeroclub of France certified as the first officially witnessed powered heavier-than-air flights in Europe, covering 220 meters in 21 seconds on his best attempt. He went on to design the Demoiselle, first flown in 1907 and regarded as the first ultralight aircraft, with roughly 300 built and used for pilot training through the First World War. He was made a Knight of the Legion of Honour in 1904 and elected to the Brazilian Academy of Letters in 1931.