Interesting People – Franz Reichelt – the falling man

Posted by blainegarrett on Nov 11th, 2008 | View Comments

Thanks to Nathan on the Podcaust forums, I discovered another interesting person today – Franz Reichelt. Reichelt was an Austrian tailor that was only famous for the manner in which he died – he leaped from the Eiffel Tower demonstrating his jacket, which is somewhat like the modern day parachute suits. However, they really only perfected the concept in recent years.

I like this guy because he jumped head first into uncertain death in hopes of progress. I wouldn’t say this guy deserves a Darwin Award, but rather an honorable mention for all those who didn’t quite become famous for sacrificing themselves in the name of advancing the human experience.

More commentary here.

Check out the video below: