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Otto Lilienthal was an engineer who earned 20-some patents over his life and owned a company for boilers and similar, but he is mostly remembered for his gliders and contributions to aviation: he was the first to successfully make a heavier-than-air flying glider, and proved to the world that human flight was completely possible. He also compiled a large amount of data used by the Wright brothers, who were largely inspired by his work.

He died August 10, 1896, a day after his glider stalled when testing a new design, after a heat eddy threw him off balance and he failed to recover. He fell 50 feet and died from a shattered spine.

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13y ago

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