John Jacob AstorJohn Jacob Astor (July 13, 1864 – April 15, 1912) was a millionaire businessman, inventor, writer, a member of the prominent Astor family, a lieutenant colonel in the Spanish-American War, and the richest man to sink with the RMS Titanic. He wrote A Journey in Other Worlds, a science fiction novel about interplanetary space travel in the year 2000. He also patented several inventions, including a bicycle brake, a device used to produce gas from peat moss, and a pneumatic road–improver. Astor made millions in real estate and built the Astoria Hotel in New York City. It was adjacent to William Waldorf Astor's (John Astor’s cousin) Waldorf Hotel; the complex later became known as the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. Works |