Portrait of Eugene Burton Ely

Birthday profile

Eugene Burton Ely

Eugene Burton Ely, American soldier and pilot (died 1911)

Born
October 21, 1886
Died
October 19, 1911
Zodiac sign
Libra
Birth year
1886

About Eugene Burton Ely

Eugene Burton Ely was an American aviation pioneer, credited with the first shipboard aircraft takeoff and landing. Eugene Burton Ely (October 21, 1886 – October 19, 1911) was an American aviation pioneer, credited with the first shipboard aircraft takeoff and landing. Smyth, a Catholic priest in Cosgrove, Iowa, who shared Ely's love of fast driving; in Father Smyth's car (a red Franklin), Ely set the speed record between Iowa City and Davenport.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

The world when Eugene Burton Ely was born

Eugene Burton Ely was born in 1886. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentFirst professional baseball game under electric lights
  • Top headlineStatue of Liberty dedicated in New York Harbor
  • Technology milestoneCoca-Cola invented in Atlanta
  • Notable inventionCoca-Cola (originally contained cocaine)
  • World population~1.46B

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderGrover Cleveland
  • U.S. population55.6M

1886 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Eugene Burton Ely's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure18862026
Population55.6M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Library of Congress, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.