Howard Robard Hughes, Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American aviator, engineer, industrialist, film producer, film director, philanthropist, and one of the wealthiest people in the world. He gained fame in the late 1920s as a maverick film producer, making big budget and often controversial films like Hell's Angels, Scarface, and The Outlaw. Hughes was one of the most influential aviators in history. He also set multiple world air-speed records (for which he won many awards, including the Congressional Gold Medal), built the Hughes H-1 Racer and H-4 "Hercules" aircraft, and acquired and expanded Trans World Airlines. Hughes is remembered today, however, for his eccentric behavior and reclusive lifestyle in later life, caused in part by a worsening obsessive–compulsive disorder. Hughes's legacy is maintained through the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Early years

Howard Robard Hughes, Jr.'s birthplace is disputed in sources as either Humble or Houston, Texas; the date is also disputed. Hughes claimed his birthday was Christmas Eve. A 1941 affidavit birth certificate of Hughes, signed by his aunt Annette Gano Lummis and Estelle Boughton Sharp, states he was born on December 24, 1905, in Harris County, Texas.No time of birth is listed. Record nr. 234358, of December 29, 1941, filed January 5, 1942, Bureau of Vital Statistics of Texas Department of Health. However, his baptismal record of October 7, 1906, in the parish register of St. John's Episcopal Church, in Keokuk, Iowa, has his birth listed as September 24, 1905, without reference to the place of birth. The handwriting of the baptismal record is a rather trembling one. The clerk was an aged person and there is a good chance that, supposedly, being hard of hearing they misheard "December 24" as "September 24" instead. This is speculative.

His parents were Allene Stone Gano (a descendant of Owen Tudor, second husband of Catherine of Valois, Dowager Queen of England)Tombo do Guarda-Mór Guarda-Mór-Edição de Publicações Multimédia, Lda Lisboa, 2000"Howard Robard Hughes Jr." Geneall.net, December 24, 1095. Retrieved: March 17, 2009. and Howard R. Hughes, Sr., who patented the two-cone roller bit, which allowed rotary drilling for petroleum in previously inaccessible places. Howard R. Hughes, Sr. made the shrewd and lucrative decision to commercialize the invention, founding the Hughes Tool Company in 1909.