In 1904, anti-Asian sentiment in the U.S. rose to a fever pitch as Congress passed an indefinite extension of the Chinese Exclusion Act, almost entirely closing the gates on Chinese immigration. Yet just over a decade later, Beijing-born Wong Tsu came to study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology through a loophole in the law that made an exception for students. Shortly after graduating from MIT’s new aeronautical program in June 1916, Wong was hired as Boeing’s first aeronautical engineer, cementing his place in aviation history.

The turn of the 20th century was an era of remarkable growth for flight, and Wong played a crucial role: He was integral in designing Boeing’s first successful plane, the Boeing Model C. That became the company’s first military plane, its first used to carry mail and the catalyst to the development of the Model 40A, the first Boeing aircraft to carry passengers.

“The Model C was not only Boeing’s first production order, it was the first Boeing aircraft to be produced in large numbers and sold,” says Tom Crouch, curator emeritus at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, and author of several books, including Wings: A History of Aviation from Kites to the Space Age. “Wong Tsu put the company on the map,” he says.

While Wong was still a child in China, Wilbur and Orville Wright, two bicycle mechanics from Dayton, Ohio, made history in 1903 with the first powered, sustained and controlled airplane flight over the dunes of Kitty Hawk. The Wright brothers envisioned a future where planes carried mail and passengers, but aviation in the pre-World War I period was initially met with skepticism.

The first aircraft were extremely frail with few instruments, relegating flight to the realm of sensational spectacle as stunt pilots flew to curious onlookers at carnivals and county fairs. Heavy winds were particularly troublesome, and anxious pilots preferred to fly only in the early morning or late afternoon when the air was at its calmest.

At MIT, Wong used the university’s new four-foot-square wind tunnel—one of the first in the country of its kind—to conduct controlled experiments and gain rare insight into aerodynamic stability. With a thesis on Air Resistance of Cylinder Combinations, Wong in 1916 became one of the few degreed aeronautical engineers in the country.