Aviation pioneer Edward Chalmers Huffaker (1856-1937), born in Sevier County, Tennessee, worked with Orville and Wilbur Wright at Kitty Hawk in 1901.

He earned degrees from Emory and Henry College and the University of Virginia. In 1893, E.C. Huffaker submitted his paper entitled The Value of Curved Surfaces in Flight, based upon his new theory of lift resulting from observations of soaring birds, to the Congress on Aerial Navigation.

Two years later, in May of 1895,The Wright brothers wrote the Smithsonian Institution requesting publications on flight. Edward C. Huffaker's paper and his application of Bernoulli's principle to the generation of lift as air flows over curved surfaces were among those they received.

The genius of Edward Chalmers Huffaker significantly connected this special Tennessean with the Wright brothers' historical first powered flight. Aviation changed the world forever and E.C. Huffaker earned a place in the history of early flight.

Edward Chalmers Huffaker was enshrined at the Tennessee Aviation Hall of Fame on November 8, 2003.

Source: http://www.tnairmuseum.com/?q=node/32