(1850 – 1897)

Inventor of the Airship.

Commissioned by the German army, he constructed the first dirigible airship in 1896, which was tested with partial success on November 3, 1897. He soon received a telegram from the German government informing him that his invention had been accepted. After the groundbreaking inventor’s untimely death, Baron Zeppelin purchased the plans and the patent from his widow in 1898.

Invented: airship (1896).