Wilbur Wright
Inventor
Co-inventor and co-pilot of the first successful airplane, which he called a "flying machine." His and his brother Orville's planes were later used in WWI and set the stage for modern aviation.
He was an athletic child and lost his two front teeth in a hockey accident.
His their flight occurred on December 17, 1903 at a North Carolina beach.
He was the older of the two Wright Brothers. Neither he nor his brother Orville ever married.
He and his brother formed the Curtiss-Wright Corporation with Glenn Curtiss.