Štefan Banič

Štefan Banič ([ˈʃcɛfam ˈbaɲitʃ]; 23 November 1870 – 2 January 1941) was a Slovak inventor who patented an early parachute design.

Born in Neštich (Hungarian: Jánostelek), Austria-Hungary (now part of Smolenice, Slovakia), Banič immigrated to the United States and worked as a coal miner in Greenville, Pennsylvania.After witnessing a plane crash in 1912, Banič constructed a prototype of a parachute in 1913 and was granted US patent, No. 1,108,484.

The design which was radically different from others - it was a kind of umbrella attached to the body - but it is sometimes claimed that he successfully tested it in Washington, D.C. jumping first from a 15-storey building and subsequently from an airplane in 1914. He donated his patent to the U.S. Army - but there is no evidence that it was ever used.

After World War I Banič returned to Czechoslovakia where he helped to explore the Driny karst cave in the foothills of the Little Carpathian Mountains, close to his hometown of Smolenice.

In 1997, US skydiver Slavo Mulik, also born in Slovakia, created the Stefan Banic Parachute Foundation which offers bronze, silver and gold medal awards to individuals involved in events, promotions and/or celebrations of skydiving, in memory of Banic.

In 2006, Slovak military paratroopers installed a memorial plaque at his birthplace in Smolenice.

Trnava - Boleráz airport, near Smolenice, carries Banič's name.