Famous People in Transportation

Roger Bruce Chaffee

Born in Michigan on February 15, 1935. Lieutenant Commander in the Navy Died in Apollo 1 fire along with Virgil "Gus" Grissom. January, 27 1967 Has a part on the moon, School, Planetarium and a U.S. Navy School named after him. Received a Purple Heart. Chaffee was awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor and the United States Navy Air Medal.

Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiher Von Braun

Born in Wirsitz, Prussia on March 23, 1912 Became fascinated with space exploration at an early age after reading science fiction novels by Jules Vern and H.G. Wells Mastered Calculus and Trigonometry in order to study the physics of rocketry He attended the Technical University of Berlin in 1930 where he studied rocketry He was the leader of the German Army's "rocket team" and was the designer of the world's first ballistic missile, the V-2 Was arrested by the SS in 1943 after he resisted Heinrich Himmler's quest to gain control of the V-2 program. Fearing the cruel treatment of POWs by the USSR, he and 500 of his top scientists surrendered to the Americans in 1945 Von Braun and his team moved to the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama where they designed and built the Jupiter IRBM In 1960, he was contracted by NASA to be the director of the Marshall Space Flight Center He was the chief architect of the Saturn V launch vehicles that carried man to the moon. Von Braun moved to Washington D.C. in 1970 to become head of strategic planning for NASA He retired from NASA in 1972 and went to work for Fairchild Industries Von Braun died in 1977 at the age of 65 after a long battle with kidney cancer

Garret A. Morgan

Born to former slaves in 1877, Morgan quit school at a young age to work as a handyman for a wealthy lawyer in Cincinnati, but hired a tutor as an older teen before moving to Cleveland. First African American to own an automobile An inventor of practical devices from hair straighteners to traffic signals His experiences driving the streets of Cleveland led him to design the first traffic signal device, as it was not uncommon for the busy streets to be crowded with many different vehicles (horses to bicycles to automobiles) going all directions. His traffic signal consisted of a Tshaped pole which had three hand-cranked positions: stop, go, and halt all directions to allow for pedestrian traffic. It could be operated from a long distance. Morgan sold the rights to this invention to General Electric for $40,000. However, it was not the precursor to the traffic light or the first traffic signal.

Igor Sikorsky

Designed and flew the first multi-engine fixed wing aircraft His first designs saw use in the Russian Civil War Born in Kiev, Ukraine His R-4 Hoverfly was the world's first mass-produced helicopter and became the U.S. Air Force's first service helicopter. After World War I, he moved to the U.S. and manufactured the famous Pan Am flying boats The VS-300 was Sikorsky's first successful rotary wing aircraft Even though it was not the first successful aircraft of this type, the VS300 was the first to use the single rotor design used in modern helicopters His company, Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation, is one of the largest manufacturers of helicopters today producing the UH-60 Black Hawk, SH-60 Sea Hawk, S-64 Sky Crane, SH-3 Sea King, and the CH-53 Sea Stallion

Henry Ford

July 30,1863-April 7, 1947 Father was a farmer who came to America. Developed his first engine in the sink in his apartment. His first car, the Model T, was made to be a tough utilitarian vehicle with few frills. Created some of the world's most advanced assembly plants, such as the Rouge, which boasted a state of the art design. It was still considered one of the world's best factories until the 50's, but functioned only until the 30's. Later criticized for many downfalls, but his positive contributions were the most recognized.

Kiichiro Toyoda

June 11,1894 - March 27, 1952 Worked in father's company: Toyota Automatic Loom Works. Studied engineering at Tokyo University. Worked with Platt Brothers and Company. Created one of the most reliable I4 engines, R models, starting in 1953. The 20R was second only to Chevrolet's diesel C223's. Still produces looms for textiles, even after success in automobiles. Toyota participated in many race leagues, such as Le Mans, Champ, Rally, etc. After creating their first engine, they were encouraged by the Japanese government to produce need automobiles. The A1 (Passenger car); the G1 truck produced in 1935.

Mary Anderson

Mary Anderson was a viticulturist, real estate developer rancher, and inventor, most notably of the windshield wiper blade. She patented her device for ˆan automatic car window cleaning device controlled inside the car˜ in 1903, Before Henry Ford patented his Model Ts Anderson was born in Alabama, but while sitting in a New York trolley car on a trip to the North, she noted that the driver had difficulty with steering due to a buildup of frost on his windshield and had to pause every few minutes to clear the frost. When she returned to Birmingham, she sketched a design and had a local company produce a working model. Anderson had trouble selling rights to her invention until after her patent expired in 1920 and automobiles became more common

Roger Bacon

Roger Bacon proposed flying machines and motorized ships and carriages. He came up with ideas that contained treatments of the manufacture of gunpowder. He was the first to mention the formula for gunpowder but did not invent the substance. He also had ideas of hydraulics. Most significantly, Bacon emphasized the essential contribution that math made to science (even 400 years later this was not widely accepted), and made the fundamental shift from natural philosophy's reason-based theorizing to science's experimental foundation.

Sally Kristen Ride

The first American woman to reach outer space (1983) Helped develop the Space Shuttle's robot arm Led NASA's first strategic planning effort, "Leadership and America's Future in Space"

Howard Robard Hughes Jr.

December 24, 1905 - April 5, 1976 MAJOR CONRIBUTIONS TO TRANSPORTATION! •Industrialist, engineer, aviator •Erected Houston's first wireless broadcast system at age 11 •At 12, he built first motorized bicycle in Houston from steam engine parts. •Chairman of Hughes Aircraft Company -Hughes Helicopters - Hughes Aerospace Group -"Spruce Goose" -XF-11 crashes in Beverly Hills -H-1 Racer sets airplane speed record at 353mph -H-1 speculated to have influenced a number of WWII fighters -Aircraft computer systems - Missile systems - Radar -Surveyor 1 - made first soft landing on the Moon, leading to Apollo missions -Syncom - first geosynchronous communications satellite

Christopher Columbus (1454 — May 20, 1506)

He was a navigator, colonizer, and Spanish explorer and one of the first Europeans to explore the Americas after the Vikings. Columbus' voyages led to general European awareness of the Western hemisphere and the successful establishment of European cultures in the New World. Columbus' voyages across the Atlantic Ocean began a European effort at exploration and colonization of the Western Hemisphere. He also was the oldest out of five children making him the oldest.

Leonardo da Vinci

He was born April 15, 1452 in Tuscan Italy. He was in many fields of science and art. During his lifetime Leonardo was valued as an engineer. When he fled to Venice in 1499 he found employment as an engineer and devised a system of moveable barricades to protect the city from attack. His journals include a number of inventions. They include musical instruments, hydraulic pumps, reversible crank mechanisms, finned mortar shells and a steam cannon. Leonardo was fascinated by the phenomenon of flight, producing many studies of the flight of birds, and sketched several flying machines, including a helicopter and a light hang gliders. The hang glider has been successfully constructed and demonstrated.

Captain William Thomas Turner

In 1902, Will Turner was awarded the Transport Medal for outstanding government service as Chief Officer of the UMBRIA. • Captained the following ships: - CARPATHIA - IVERNIA - LUSITANIA - MAURETANIA In 1913, he was promoted to Commodore. •AQUITANIA •TRANSYLVANIA •ULTONIA •IVERNIA

James Plimpton

In January 1863, Plimpton patented a fourwheeled roller skate that was capable of turning. The mechanism had a pivoting action dampened by a rubber cushion which permitted the roller skater to curve by leaning in the desired direction of travel. Plimpton built a roller skating floor in the office of his New York City furniture business and leased out his skates. He founded the New York Roller Skating Association to promote the sport. Before his invention, turning on skates on foot was impossible. In the summer of 1866, the NYRSA leased the fashionable resort hotel, the Atlantic House, in Newport, Rhode Island, and converted the dining room into a skating area. This was the first roller skating rink open to the public in the United States.

John Dunlop, Pneumatic Tires

John Boyd Dunlop (1840-1921) was a Scottish veterinarian and the recognized inventor of the first pneumatic or inflatable tire. His invention was originally meant for his son who was having a hard time while riding on the hard roads. Tires were made out of hard rubber and that made the ride uncomfortable. Dunlop's pneumatic tire consisted of rubber attached to the bicycle wheel with glue and filled with air. When tested the pneumatic tire gave a smoother ride.

Nikola Tesla

July 10, 1856 - January 7, 1943 Major Contributions to Transportation: •VTOL Aircraft (Vertical Takeoff and Landing) •Induction Motor and Electric Vehicles •Tesla's Flying Machine •Wireless Technology •Tesla Turbines

Charles Goodyear

Natural or India rubber, as it was then known, was of limited usefulness to industry. Rubber products melted in hot weather, froze and cracked in cold, and adhered to virtually everything until the day in the mid-19th century when inventor Charles Goodyear accidentally dropped some rubber mixed with sulfur on a hot stove. Goodyear's discovery of what came to be known as vulcanization strengthened rubber so it could be applied to a vast variety of industrial uses like automobile tires. Goodyear was born in New Haven, Connecticut. He entered the hardware business with his father but the venture failed in 1830. Thereafter he turned his talents to the commercial improvement of India rubber, which, until his time, was not used much in industry because of the adhesiveness of the surface and because of its inability to withstand temperature extremes. After numerous experiments, in 1836 Goodyear developed a nitric acid treatment which partially remedied these defects. The famous vulcanizing process, patented in 1844, was to revolutionized the rubber industry, but Goodyear was unable to profit financially from his discovery. His numerous patents were constantly infringed, and although he was able to establish his rights legally, he died a poor man.

Robert Fulton

November 14, 1765 - February 24, 1815 MAJOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO TRANSPORTATION: •Steamboat research - not first to invent steamboat. •In France, experimented with submarine torpedoes and torpedo boats. •August 9, 1803 his and Robert Livingston's first successful steamboat traveled up the River Seine. Together they created the first commercial steamboat, transporting passengers from NYC to Albany. •Nautilus - not world's first submarine •Created designs for a new kind of steam warship

Bessie Coleman

On June 15 1921, she went to France and earned her license. She returned to the United States in September of 1921, and began to perform in the Chicago area, doing aerobatic loops and figure eights. Her ultimate goal was to establish a flying school for African Americans. In 1925 she moved to Houston and performed throughout the South, drawing multi-cultural crowds. She had nearly reached her goal of opening a school, when on April 30, 1926, she went up for a practice flight for a May Day celebration in Orlando, Florida. About ten minutes into the flight, the Curtiss Jenny biplane, piloted by her mechanic and publicity agent, William Will, went into a nose dive and flipped. Coleman, who had not fastened her seatbelt, was thrown from the plane and plunged to her death. However, her brief flying career inspired many young African Americans to enter the field of aviation and her legacy continues in the form of aviation clubs and tributes, including the 1995 U.S. postal stamp issued in her honor. Each year on the anniversary of her death, African American pilots fly over "Brave Bessie's" grave in Chicago to drop flowers in her honor.

James Harold "Jimmy" Doolittle

Pioneering holder of speed records General in the Unites States Army Air Forces during the World War II Leader of first aerial attack on the Japanese mainland He was the first pilot to take off, fly, and land an aircraft using instruments alone...known as blind flying!

John Young

September 24, 1930 Graduated from Georgia Tech and then went into the Navy. In September 1962 he was selected to be an astronaut. He is the first person to fly in space six times from earth. He operated the first computer on a manned space shuttle. Young was also on five backup space flights. He has spent over 835 hours in space, over 15,000 hours in jets, flying, props and rockets, and 9,200 hours in t-38's.

Harriet Quimby

The first U.S. woman to earn a pilot's certificate (1911) Flew across the English Channel In 1912 She died in her airplane crash

Alan Shepard Jr.

This guy entered the navy as a test pilot. He tested things such as high-altitude air planes, in-flight fueling, and landing on angled carrier decks. Ten years later, he was picked along with six other people from a group of 110 for astronaut training. He became the second human and first American to go into space, but he had control of his space capsule, where as Gagarin, the first man in space, was only a passenger. He wanted to go back up into space, but an inner ear problem affected his equilibrium and kept him out of space for a time. However, he went up later on the Apollo XIV mission to the moon.

Eugene Andrew Cernan (born March 14, 1934)

a retired United States Navy officer and a former NASA astronaut. He has been into space three times: as co-pilot of Gemini 9A in June 1966; as lunar module pilot of Apollo 10 in May 1969; and as commander of Apollo 17 in December 1972. He was also a backup crew member for the Gemini 12, Apollo 7 and Apollo 14 missions. Cernan is one of only three men to voyage to the moon on two different occasions

Enzo Anselmo Ferrari

• Born in Modena, Italy (February 20, 1898 - August 14, 1988) • Car racer, car designer and founder of Scuderia Ferrari Grand Prix Racing team, and consequently Ferrari car manufacturer. • Worked for Fiat • Raced and worked with Alfa Romeo

Robert William Thomson (1822 - March 8, 1873)

• Creator of the Pneumatic tire. • His tire consisted of a hollow belt of India-rubber inflated with air so that the wheels presented "a cushion of air to the ground. • This elastic belt of rubberized canvas was enclosed within a strong outer casing of leather which was bolted to the wheel. • Greatly improved the comfort of travel and reduced noise. • For many years Thomson was frustrated by this lack of thin strong rubber and he turned to the development of his solid rubber tires. • It was not until 43 years later that the pneumatic tire returned when it was developed as a bicycle tire by John Boyd Dunlop. • Dunlop was granted a patent in 1888 but was not credited because Thomson had already patented.

Charles A. Lindbergh

• First to fly nonstop across the Atlantic -Flew from New York to Paris without refueling -20 May — 21 May 1927 in 33.5 hours -President Calvin Coolidge gave Lindbergh the Congressional Medal of Honor and the Distinguished Flying Cross • Died of Cancer on August 26, 1974

Francis and Gertrude Rogallo

• Francis- born on January 27, 1912 • credited with the invention of the flexible wing • He designed the first Rogallo wing made with scavenged kitchen curtains • The Rogallo wing gave birth to Hang gliding, and revolutionized nonpowered flight

Montgolfier Brothers

• Joseph Michel and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier were French inventors of the globe airostatique or European hot air balloon. • The idea of hot air balloons first came to Joseph in 1777 when he watched laundry over a fire form air pockets and billow upwards. • In 1782 he conducted his first experiments, which he initially had in mind as a possible military tactic • His prototypes consisted of box-chambers connected to taffeta cloth with a fire burning at the center. • The brothers' first public demonstration was in 1783 of a globe-shaped balloon that weighed 500lb and held 28,000 cubic feet of air. The flight lasted 10 minutes and the balloon traveled 1.2 miles. • Étienne, the public speaker of the two, made further demonstrations at the capital, and they began working with a manufacturer who created larger, decorated balloons. • One of the first living beings to attempt this form of transportation was a sheep. • The first human pilot was Pilâtre de Rozier, a physician. He traveled to Paris, but excess fuel leaked, catching the balloon on fire. Pilâtre survived. • Hot air balloons became a sensation by the early 1800s and were widely used in military procedures, with modifications prevailing throughout the World Wars.

Nicolaus Otto

• June 10, 1832 - January 26 1891 • Based some of his designs on Etienne Lenoir's engine, a gas coal design. • Created Deutz AG • Rewarded with an Honorary Doctorate from Wurzburg U. • The Otto cycle engine was the fist engine to use the 4 stroke cycle. • Overall, this was a more reliable design than most 2 strokes of the time, and far more economical.

Dwight D, Eisenhower

• One of Eisenhower's most enduring achievements was campainging and signing the bill that authorized the Interstate Highway System in 1956. - His justification for the highway system was the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956. - He stated that this was essential to American security in the Cold War. - During this time period, it was believed that large cities were subject to attack, so highways were built to evacuate people and allow the military to move in. • Eisenhower's goal to create improved highways was influenced by his involvement in the U.S. Army's 1919 Transcontinental Motor Convoy - He was assigned as an observer for the mission, which involved sending a convoy of U.S. Army vehicles coast to coast. • His experience with German autobahns during World War II convinced him of the benefits of an Interstate Highway System.

Soichiro Honda

• Started Mechanic at age 15. • Started with motorcycles using efficient engines. • 1959- First Honda dealer in U.S.A. • Studied and perfected the piston ring design. • Created engines for planes, cars and motorcycles.

Neil Armstrong

• The first man to walk on the Moon • Born on August 5, 1930 • American Astronaut, Test Pilot, University Professor, naval aviator • " One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." • Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his accomplishments to the space program

Karl Benz

• Was a German engine designer and automobile engineer • Generally regarded as the inventor of the gasoline powered automobile • Benz designed and patented the first internal combustion flat engine - The design is still used in some high performance engines used in racing cars. Benz invented the •speed regulation system known also as an accelerator •ignition using sparks from a battery •the spark plug •the clutch •the gear shift •the water radiator •and the carburetor

George Cayley

• Was a prolific English engineer, one of the most important people in the history of aeronautics. • Many consider him the first true scientific aerial investigator and first person to understand the underlying principles and forces of flight. • Sometimes called "Father of Aviation" in 1799 he set forth concept of the modern aeroplane as a fixed-wing flying machine with separate systems for lift, propulsion, and control. • Often known as "the father of Aerodynamics", he was a pioneer of aeronautical engineering. • Designer of the first successful glider to carry a human being aloft, he discovered and identified the four aerodynamic forces of flight - weight, lift, drag, and thrust which are in effect on any flight vehicle. • Sir George Cayley was known as the "Father of Aerodynamics", mainly remembered, however, for his flying machines, including the working, piloted glider that he designed and built.

Wright Brothers

• Wilbur Wright and his younger brother, Orville created the first airplane that was propeller driven that stayed in the air for 12 seconds. • The first plane they had built was a glider that measured 16 feet from wing tip to wing tip. • The first plane cost them$15 to build. The gasoline-powered plane they flew at Kitty Hawk cost them less than $1000 to build. • The Wright Brothers earned money by making homemade mechanical toys. When bicycles became popular, they opened a bicycle shop. • They created a wind tunnel to help improve their design and five years later, they created a plane that stayed in the air for one hour and two minutes.

Franklin Story Musgrave

•Born August 19, 1935 •Involved in design and development of all space shuttle extravehicular activities equipment •Veteran of six space flights, spending almost 1,282 hours in space •The only person to fly missions on all five space shuttles

Charles Elwood "Chuck" Yeager

•Born February 13, 1923 •In 1947 he became the first man to travel faster than the speed of sound •Highly decorated pilot in the United States Armed Air Forces (USAAF).

Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta

•Born February 18, 1745 •Created the first Electric battery, the Voltaic Pile in 1800 •The volt, an electronic unit of electromotive force was named after him •Today most motor vehicles run off of electric batteries

Buzz Aldrin

•Born January 20, 1930 •American pilot and astronaut •Lunar Module Pilot on Apollo 11, the first lunar landing •One of the first two men to walk on the moon

Colin Chapman

•Born on May 9th, 1928 in London • In 1948, he received his degree in civil engineering and later joined the R.A.F. • Chapman became interested in building cars and bought an 1930 Austin 7 and modified it to run in local trial races • With the success of his first 6 cars and the funds to start his own company, Chapman began to sell his Lotus 6 as a inexpensive kit car • In 1957 he built the Lotus 7 which would prove to be even more successful than his previous cars • The 7 was produced from 1957 to 1972 when Chapman sold the rights to build the car to Caterham which still builds the 7 to this day • After the success of his kit cars, Chapman ventured into Formula 1 where he demonstrated his potential as a car builder when his small, lightweight cars beat the more powerful • The appearance of his cars did not matter to him. Chapman believed that performance should be the most meaningful aspect of a car • Chapman is credited with pioneering the use of struts as a rear suspension device • His 1958 Lotus Elite was a major advancement in automotive technology in that it used a fiberglass monocouqe unibody as the entire load-bearing structure for the car. He applied this technology to the mid-engined Lotus 25 Formula 1 car which was the first car in F1 to feature a fully stressed monocoque chassis • His experience with aircraft drove him to introduce aerodynamics into Formula 1 by introducing the principle of adding front and rear wings to create positive downforce • In 1968, Colin devised a four-wheel drive, turbine powered car to enter the Indianapolis 500 but was unable to race it after four wheel drive was declared illegal in the series • Chapman was the first to use the ground effect principle which creates a partial vacuum underneath the car thru the use of venturis. This creates suction and holds the car to the ground improving handling so much that it was promptly banned • When Colin died in 1982, he was testing the first Formula 1 car to use active suspension

Gene Kranz

•Born: August 7, 1933 •Graduated from Saint Louis College 1954 and received 2nd Lieutenant in the US Air Force •Flight Director: Apollo 7, 9, 11, 13, and continue flight directing until Apollo 17. •During Apollo 13 he was the leader of the "White Team" which aided in the rescue of the crew and craft. •1974 he was promoted to Deputy Director of NASA and in 1983 became the Director. He retired in 1994 after the STS-61 repaired the Hubble Telescope(1993) successfully.

Captain Edward John Smith

•Born: January 27, 1850 •Died: April 15, 1912 •"Millionaire's Captain" •Commodore of White Star Line •Commanded many ships which included: Baltic, Adriatic, Olympic, R.M.S Titanic •His cause of death is unknown. Reports vary from him going down with the ship, suicide, and saving passengers in the water. Capt. Smith's body was never recovered. •"Be British" A statue stands in Lichfield, England commemorating Capt. Smith's Life.

Amelia Earhart

•Born: July 24, 1897 •Died: January 5, 1939 (Pronounced dead after missing for two years.) •"Lady Lindy" and "Queen of the Air" •She was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic(1932), wrote best selling books about her flights, and was instrumental in setting up the Ninety-Nines organization. •On her last flight, which was to be around the world, she disappeared July 2, 1937 over the Pacific ocean near Howland Island. Both she and her co-pilot, Fred Noonan, were never found. •There are several theories which include: crash and sink, Gardner Island hypothesis, execution on Saipan Island, and the possibility that she survived and changed her identity.

Yuri A. Gagarin

•Gagarin decided that he wanted to be a pilot at a very young age. After learning to pilot in a flying club, he joined the air force. •He applied for cosmonaut training and was accepted. He underwent tough training and passed each test easily. Through everything he was calm and had a good sense of humor. •Gagarin was chosen to be the first cosmonaut to go into outer space and helped provide a good deal of information to be processed by scientists.

Galileo Galilei

•Galileo Galilei was born in Pisa, Italy on February 15, 1564. •He was the first of 7 children. •In 1581, at the age of 17, he entered the University of Pisa to study medicine. (College drop-out) His most acclaimed accomplishments for TRANSPORTATION: The modern military compass: His discoveries about the rotations of the moon and stars. His observations of amplitude and simple harmonic motion.

Robert Goddard

•Goddard became interested in space travel at a young age. While in school he wrote papers about the possibility of traveling in space. •Goddard patented the idea of having a multistage rocket, which he called "plurality." This is used in the space shuttles today. •His most well known achievement was the successful creation of a liquid fuel rocket. Many people doubted that this would be very effective, but it was, and because the fuel was liquid, he was able to supply the engine with a continuous supply of fuel. •He continued to alter and change the rocket to make it better and better, and has much influenced modern rocketry.

David Bushnell

•Was an inventor, born in Saybrook, Connecticut, in 1742. (during the Revolutionary War.) •Studied at Yale University and graduated in 1775. •First combat submarine, Turtle (1777). •Idea of using water for ballast. •He also proved that gunpowder could explode underwater. •On June 8, 1781 he was promoted Captain of Sappers and Miners. •He died in Warrenton, Georgia, in 1824.

Lance Armstrong

•born in Austin, Texas on September 18, 1971 •won seven Tour de France titles (the record), one World Championship Road Race title, and two major classics victories. •In 1996 he was diagnosed with cancer. -Advanced testicular cancer spread to his lungs and brain. •Emergency surgery and aggressive chemotherapy saved him.

Ferdinand Von Zeppelin

•full name: Ferdinand Adolf August Heinrich Graf (Count) von Zeppelin •July 2, 1900 the first rigid dirigible (zeppelin) made its maiden flight -altitude of 1300 ft -distance of 3.75 miles in 17 minutes •A dirigible/zeppelin is another name for an airship •1908: first commercial flight for a Zeppelin •Most famous Zeppelin is the Hindenburg -Crashed in a fiery explosion -Filled with less expensive hydrogen

John Herschel Glenn Jr.

► Born: July 18, 1921, in Cambridge, Ohio ► Before NASA he flew for the military completing 59 missions by the end of WW2. He was promoted to captain by the end of the war. ► In April 1959, Glenn was assigned to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as one of the original group of Mercury astronauts for the Mercury Project. ► He piloted the first American manned orbital mission aboard Friendship 7 on February 20, 1962, on the "Mercury Atlas 6" mission.

Gottlieb Wilhelm Daimler

► Born: March 17, 1834, in what is now Germany. ► He was a pioneer of internal-combustion engines and automobile development. ► He and a partner built the first motorcycle. ► He is most well known for being the father of the Grandfather Clock engine. ► He also helped start the car company that is now known as Daimler AG.

Andrew Lawrence Riker

► Born: On October 22, 1868 ► In 1901, his electric-powered racer "The Riker Torpedo" set a world speed record for electric cars that stood for ten years. ► He led the industry of electric powered cars and is also known for helping to give America a better reputation in the car industry. He was described by auto experts as "the Mona Lisa of American historic automobiles," the vehicle on the bottom right became the first U.S.-built car to win an international auto race when it captured the 1908 Vanderbilt Cup.