Alberto Santos Dumont
Santos Dumont was a Brazilian aviation pioneer who designed, built and flew the first practical dirigible. He dedicated his life to aeronautical study and experimentation and as a result he was the inventor of airplanes and dirigible.
Dumont was born on July 22, 1873 as the sixth child of his father. Born in Cabangu Farm, he came from a family that owned a coffe plantation in São Paulo, because of this, he learned to drive steam tractors and locomotive, used on his family's plantation.
He was a voracious reader and he road all the books by Jules Verne (that was a writer that talked about all the things that could be invented and how the things really could be in the world), and the Verne's books was to Dumont like a big inspiration.
He attended "Colegio Culto a Ciencia" in Campinas, later, he studied at "Escola de Minas Gerais" in Ouro Preto. In 1891, after his father became a parablegic, his family sold the plantation and went to Europe because here Dumont was consideres crazy because of his ideas, there he could study more and develope his ideas.
Dumont left the institute and Reached Paris, there, he persued his studies in subjects like physics, chemistry, mechanics and electricity and he had a private tutor.
His first ballon design was namely "Bresil" in 1898, he worked on the design of sterable ballon which are known as "Dirigible".
From 1898 to 1905, he built and flew 11 dirigibles, on october 19, 1901 he sucessfully made a trip using his dirigible "Number 6".
In 1905, he completed the design of his first fixed-wing aircraft and helicopter, in the next year, he he flew an aircraft ny piloting the "14-bis".
In 1910, he piloted his last flight that had an accident, his name is also associated with the city of Santos Dumont, Brazil. A highway namely Rodovia Santos Dumont in São Paulo. He died on July 23, 1932.
