Harry Houdini!
 

Harry Houdini (born Erik Weisz; March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926) was a Hungarian-born American magician and escapologist, stunt performer, actor and film producer noted for his sensational escape acts. He was also a skeptic who set out to expose frauds purporting to be supernatural phenomena.[1]

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Cited from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Houdini

He was also a friend of Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes stories until their differences regarding spiritualism movement ie psychics,etc. saw them part as friends.

It's said that magic originated in 2700 BCE. The first know performance was by an Egyption named Dedi. So needless to say, magic has been around since a very long time.