Henri Giffard
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Image:Giffard1852.jpg Henri Giffard (1825-1882) was a French engineer who invented the injector and the powered airship with a steam engine weighing over 400 lb. It was the world's first passenger-carrying airship, called a dirigible. Both practical and steerable, the hydrogen-filled airship was equipped with a 3 hp steam engine that drove a propeller. He also installed a vertical rudder. On 24 September, 1852 he made the first powered and controlled flight travelling 27 km from Paris to Trappes.
Giffard committed suicide in 1882, leaving his estate to the nation for humanitarian and scientific purposes.