Santos Dumont: the flying poet

Abstract

Few names are as well known in Brazil as that of Alberto Santos Dumont. After all, the name has been given to streets and squares in hundreds of towns throughout the country, as well as a famous airport, a municipality, foundations, museums and institutes, among other things. Paradoxically, this massive exposure conceals an image somehow emptied of content and meaning. The intention of this text is to strip away this cloak of ignorance and superficiality to reveal the figure of a flying poet, a dreaming and persevering designer, who through his creations made a difference to history, and who is therefore able to teach us lessons even today.