Ferdinand von Zeppelin

Born 8 July 1838, Ferdinand Adolf Heinrich August Graf von Zeppelin served as a German general before pivoting to invention. He designed and built rigid airships that carried his name, founding Luftschiffbau Zeppelin to manufacture them. For thirty years his airships dominated long-distance flight, and "zeppelin" entered the language as both noun and dream. He died 8 March 1917, just before the machines bearing his title would become symbols of something else entirely.