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 Using Paris as a stage for his aeronautical experiments, the wealthy young Brazilian Alberto Santos-Dumont achieved internationally fame for several years as the first man to have achieved powered flight in 1906. However, as the Wright brothers' flight in 1903 drew more acceptance as the first practical method of air travel, Santos-Dumont became more recognized as being the first powered flight in Europe.
Santos-Dumont moved to Paris when he was 18 to live and study. His first successful flight in 1898 occurred not on an airplane, but on a "dirigible," a hot-air balloon that could be steered. In 1901, he flew his hot air balloon from St. Cloud, France, around the Eiffel Tower and back. It was the first such flight and won him the Deutsch Prize and a prize from the Brazilian government.
After the Wright brothers' flights in 1903, Santos-Dumont began to experiment with heavier-than-air machines. He constructed a vertical-propeller model, and, in 1906, built a machine, the 14-bis, on the principle of the box kite. In October 1906, he won the Deutsch-Archdeacon Price for the first officially observed heavier-than-air powered flight in Europe, flying his canvas and bamboo biplane. In November 1906, he flew 725 feet (220 meters) in 21 seconds. In 1909, he produced his "Demoiselle" or "Grasshopper" monoplane, the precursor to the modern light plane. In 1932 he committed suicide over the use of aircraft in war.
For a full story about Santos-Dumont's flight.
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