Abbas Ibn Firnas - Father Of The Flying Machine Editorial Photo

Abbas ibn Firnas was an inventor, physician, engineer, aviator, chemist, Andalusian musician, and arabic-language poet who lived in the Emirates of Cordova (present day Spain) in the 8th century. He is best known for being the first person to successfully demonstrate a controlled flight of a human being, when he jumped off a cliff in his flying machine made out of a bamboo frame covered with silk cloth and bird feathers. He managed to stay aloft for about 10 minutes but had a crash landing due to which he injured his back.