Octave Chanute (1832-1910) was a French-born, American engineer who designed and constructed iron bridges using advanced construction technologies.
Chanute later studied aviation and made several important contributions, including studies of the strength of air currents and development of a multi-wing glider that was an improvement over those of Otto Lillienthal, the leading aviation researcher of the late 19th Century.
Chanute published a basic textbook in 1894, Progress in Flying Machines. He was an important supporter of the Wright brothers, suggesting to them the use of movable wing surfaces to control flight. This became perhaps the most important innovation of the Wright brothers’ research program. Chanute may have obtained this idea from his many hours of close observation of the flying experiments by Otto Lillienthal.