Henrique Dumont: how a traumatic brain injury contributed to the development of the airplane

Abstract

The life and death of Henrique Dumont (1832-1892) is little known, being usually remembered as Alberto Santos-Dumont's father. This report describes the history of this Brazilian engineer, also known as the King of Coffee, who achieved enormous business success and fortune in the late nineteenth century. In 1890, during the inspection of his farm, the world's largest coffee plantation at that time, he fell from a carriage, which left him a hemiplegic. This forced him to sell the farm and move to France for treatment. Before his death two years later, he gave his 18-year-old son bits of advice, and distributed his inheritance, which allowed Alberto to study in Paris and finance his experiments that would culminate in the development of the airplane. The diagnostic and therapeutic possibilities are also discussed.

The bipolarity of Alberto Santos-Dumont: flights and falls of the “Father of Aviation”

“…Disabled for work, he sells his farm and donates his inheritance to his children in life. ASD receives the equivalent of half a million dollars and is sent to Paris, where he should study mechanics, without worrying about guaranteeing his own livelihood 2,4 .…”