I was born in 1880 in Košariská as the sixth child of Evajnelice parish priest Pavel Štefánik. I studied civil engineering in Prague. After two years, I transferred to the Faculty of Philosophy, where I studied mathematics and astronomy. I was very interested in Professor T. G. Masaryk's lectures on philosophy, which formed the basis of our future political cooperation. After my studies, I went to Paris to work as an astrophysicist’s assistant. I pioneered solar research methods. I received many awards for my scientific and diplomatic achievements. From 1915 I volunteered for the air force as a French citizen. During the war, I informed French politicians and journalists about the difficult situation of Slovaks in Hungary. I presented to the politicians a proposal for the creation of free states that would be created by the disintegration of Austria-Hungary. In 1916, together with Masaryk and Beneš, I founded the Czechoslovak National Council, the supreme body of the Czecho-Slovak foreign resistance. Later, I managed to officially establish a Czech-Slovak army in France. Already in 1916, I marked the new borders of Czechoslovakia, Romania, Yugoslavia and Hungary, which were later accepted by the Trianon Agreement. After many years spent abroad, I finally went home on Sunday, May 4, 1919. I boarded the plane, where I was accompanied by two Italian pilots. We were supposed to land at the airport in Vajnory near Bratislava. However, the plane did not land because it suddenly crashed near Ivanka pri Dunaji. All of us crew members died. I am buried in a mound on Bradlo, in my native homeland.