Saturday, December 23, 2006

The "Wright" Inspiration

From statements and writings left by the Wright brothers, it is clear Otto Lilienthal (1848-1896) was an important source of inspiration for their efforts. A case can be made that the writings of Lilienthal directly inspired the Wrights to take on the invention of the airplane as an interesting pursuit. Certainly their early framing of the "problem of flight" was derived largely from Lilienthal's ideas and difficulties.

No comments: