"Tito Livio Burattini (Polish: Tytus Liwiusz Burattini, 8 March 1617 – 17 November 1681) was an inventor, architect, Egyptologist, scientist, instrument-maker, traveller, engineer, and nobleman. He ...
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was born in Agordo, Italy, and studied in Padua and Venice. In 1639, he explored the Great Pyramid of Giza with English mathematician John Greaves; both Burattini and Sir Isaac Newton used measurements made by Greaves in an attempt to accurately determine the circumference of the earth.
For Germany in 1641, the court of King Władysław IV invited him to Poland. In Warsaw, Burattini built a model aircraft with four fixed glider wings in 1647. Described as "four pairs of wings attached to an elaborate 'dragon'", it was said to have successfully lifted a cat in 1648 but not Burattini himself. According to Clive Hart's The Prehistory of Flight, he promised that "only the most minor injuries" would result from landing the craft." - (en.wikipedia.org 11.08.2021)
