Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute number of prominent people worked and studied at the KPI: E.O.Paton, the inventor of electric welding; M. I. Konovalov, a well-known chemist; I. P. Bardin, Ukraine's greatest metallurgist; A. M. Lyulka, USSR's premier designer of jet engines; rocket scientist Sergey Korolyov; creator of Sikorsky Helicopters, the well-known inventor Igor Sikorsky, well-known scientist in the field of fuel combustion and protection of the atmosphere from industrial pollution Isaak Sigal; Boris Yakovlevich Bukreev, a prominent mathematician known for his works in complex functions, differential equations, and non-Euclidean geometry. President of the First Exam Board in chemistry faculty was Dmitri Mendeleev. Also must
Igor Sikorsky several former Russian military officers. Among Sikorsky's chief supporters was composer Sergei Rachmaninoff, who introduced himself by writing a check for US$5,000 (approximately $61,000 in 2007). Although his prototype was damaged in its first test flight, Sikorsky persuaded his reluctant backers to invest another $2,500. With the additional funds, he produced the S-29, one of the first twin-engine aircraft in America, with a capacity for 14 passengers and a speed of 115 mph. The performance of the S-29, slow compared to military aircraft of 1918, proved to be a "make or break" moment for Sikorsky's funding. In 1928, Sikorsky became