George Cayley

Sir George Cayley (27 December 1773 - 15 December 1857) was an exuberant polymath from Brompton-by-Sawdon, near Scarborough in Yorkshire. He designed and built a working, piloted glider, nearly fifty years before the Wright Brothers. He served for the Whig party on Parliament, and helped found the Polytechnic Institution, serving as its chairman for many years. He was the uncle of the mathematician Arthur Cayley.

See also

• List of early flying machines
• First flying machine
• List of years in aviation