Sikorsky, Igor

Date of birth: May 2, 1889.

Place of birth: Kiev, Ukraine.

Died: October 26, 1972.

Major contributions: Built the first successful single-rotor helicopter; built the first multi-engine airplane; built large aircraft used in early transoceanic passenger flights.

Award and Honors: Cross of St. Vladimir; Sylvanus Albert Reed Award; Presidential Certificate of Merit; Daniel Guggenheim Medal; Elmer A. Sperry Award; National Defense Award; National Medal of Science; Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy; Hawkes Memorial Trophy; Potts Medal; elected to National Aviation Hall of Fame; many honorary degrees.

gor Sikorsky was born in Kiev, Ukraine. He gained from his mother an interest in the work of artist and inventor Leonardo da Vinci, in particu­lar his drawings of flying machines. At age twelve, Sikorsky made a model helicopter powered by rubber bands and made it rise into the air.

Two years later, in 1903, Sikorsky became a student at Russia’s Naval Academy in the city of St. Petersburg. He became more interested in engineer­ing and left to pursue his studies. After two years of schooling in Kiev, Sikorsky dropped out to focus on experimental work of his own. That year, 1908, he also developed a passion for flight. After seeing photographs of the Wright broth­ers’ successful flights, Sikorsky later

recalled, “I decided to change my life’s work. I would study aviation.”