Alexander F. Mozhaiski (1825-1890), Russian naval officer, aviation pioneer, researcher and inventor in the design of heavier-than-air-craft. This gentleman took his machine into the air 20 years or so earlier than the Wright brothers. Even though people say that the Russians simply want credit for the first flight, I say it is simply unfair not to at least mention Mozhaiski's outstanding achievements in aviation even if the tsarist Russia had been ignoring the guy for most of the time because of bureaucratical stupidity and narrow-mindedness. Mozhaiski even patented his invention, but international community never really cared about patents issued in Russia to its "local" inventors.