Alexandru Ciurcu
Alexandru Ciurcu was a Romanian inventor and publisher, known for his invention with the French journalist of a reaction engine. It used rocket propulsion and was briefly used to power a boat, demonstrated on 13 August 1886. The two men envisioned that such motors would later be used for air travel.
On 16 December 1886, during a test with a new second engine for the boat at Asnières, the engine exploded. Just Buisson and an assistant at the helm were killed. Ciurcu survived by swimming ashore, but at first was accused of murder.
