Harriet Quimby

Harriet Quimby (May 11, 1875 – July 1, 1912) was an early American aviator and movie screenwriter. She was the first woman to gain a pilot license in the United States when, in 1911 she earned the first U.S. pilot's certificate issued to a woman by the Aero Club of America. Less than a year later, she became the first woman to fly across the English Channel. Although Quimby lived only to age 37, she had a major impact on women's roles in aviation.