wright brothers

[drychlick]

i been reading a book about the wright brother! It called first flight by t.a heppenheimer a good book! what i am asking is do the wright get as must famed as they shound for the 1oo brithday of the airplane. no 1 made a tv movie or fim about them! why they got no love lol? they invent 1 of the great thing ever. without airplane where would be ? what you people think love dr

 

[JustAFriend]

There were celebrations at Kitty Hawk and Dayton at the memorials and museums.
Group at Kitty Hawk even flew a replica.

Hard to get movie companies interested tho when there's nothing shiny or explosion-y.

http://wright-brothers.org/

 

[Zachary Smith]

Though it seems more than likely what the Wrights did was get CREDIT for inventing the airplane, even though others had flown as much as two years earlier.

See:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustave_Whitehead

 

[Garrovick]

Though it seems more than likely what the Wrights did was get CREDIT for inventing the airplane, even though others had flown as much as two years earlier.

See:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustave_Whitehead

Many times it's not the "first" to accomplish some thing, but the person or persons who are the first to actually do some thing practical with that accomplishment.

 

[Zachary Smith]

Though it seems more than likely what the Wrights did was get CREDIT for inventing the airplane, even though others had flown as much as two years earlier.

See:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustave_Whitehead

Many times it's not the "first" to accomplish some thing, but the person or persons who are the first to actually do some thing practical with that accomplishment.

Agreed. It also helps to demonstrate the difference between the "Great Man" and the "Course of Events" concepts of History.

The Wrights were relevant ONLY to the "Course of Events" concept because, had they NOT done what they did when they did it, someone ELSE would have and probably roughly around the same time-frame. This is different than the presence of an Abraham Lincoln or Winston Churchill or even a Hitler or Lee Harvey Oswald, whose contributions for good and ill changed dramatically the course of events and things would have been vastly different had others been in their place or had they not taken the actions they chose. The "Great Man" concept of History doesn't use the term in a value judgment sense but in terms of impact. Thus even Hitler is a "Great Man" of History.

The Wrights are NOT. Someone else would have done what they did and probably within months if not weeks. I guess in a sense you could consider them more Celebrities of History Happenings instead of Architects of Events.

 

[noknowes]

Though it seems more than likely what the Wrights did was get CREDIT for inventing the airplane, even though others had flown as much as two years earlier.

See:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustave_Whitehead

Many times it's not the "first" to accomplish some thing, but the person or persons who are the first to actually do some thing practical with that accomplishment.

Agreed. It also helps to demonstrate the difference between the "Great Man" and the "Course of Events" concepts of History.

The Wrights were relevant ONLY to the "Course of Events" concept because, had they NOT done what they did when they did it, someone ELSE would have and probably roughly around the same time-frame. This is different than the presence of an Abraham Lincoln or Winston Churchill or even a Hitler or Lee Harvey Oswald, whose contributions for good and ill changed dramatically the course of events and things would have been vastly different had others been in their place or had they not taken the actions they chose. The "Great Man" concept of History doesn't use the term in a value judgment sense but in terms of impact. Thus even Hitler is a "Great Man" of History.

The Wrights are NOT. Someone else would have done what they did and probably within months if not weeks. I guess in a sense you could consider them more Celebrities of History Happenings instead of Architects of Events.

BUT AT THE TIME IT HAD BEEN PROVED MATHEMATICALLY THAT PLANES COULD NOT FLY.

 

[FalTorPan]

You cannot "mathematically prove" a physical phenomenon. Mathematics are used to build models of observed physical phenomena and/or to form new hypotheses about the physical world.

 

[B.J.]

BUT AT THE TIME IT HAD BEEN PROVED MATHEMATICALLY THAT PLANES COULD NOT FLY.

Wrong. In fact, just the opposite. Many people (including the Wrights) had been flying kites and gliders long before powered flight was available, and had the math/formulas to back them up. Many people had also been doing testing in wind tunnels. The major problem at that point was getting enough forward thrust out of an engine light enough to be flown.

 

[Terengo]

According to the link cited above, the Wrights' contributions were developing a method for controlled flight, and also designing an gasoline engine light enough yet powerful enough to power an aircraft.

 

[Zachary Smith]

Many times it's not the "first" to accomplish some thing, but the person or persons who are the first to actually do some thing practical with that accomplishment.

Agreed. It also helps to demonstrate the difference between the "Great Man" and the "Course of Events" concepts of History.

The Wrights were relevant ONLY to the "Course of Events" concept because, had they NOT done what they did when they did it, someone ELSE would have and probably roughly around the same time-frame. This is different than the presence of an Abraham Lincoln or Winston Churchill or even a Hitler or Lee Harvey Oswald, whose contributions for good and ill changed dramatically the course of events and things would have been vastly different had others been in their place or had they not taken the actions they chose. The "Great Man" concept of History doesn't use the term in a value judgment sense but in terms of impact. Thus even Hitler is a "Great Man" of History.

The Wrights are NOT. Someone else would have done what they did and probably within months if not weeks. I guess in a sense you could consider them more Celebrities of History Happenings instead of Architects of Events.

BUT AT THE TIME IT HAD BEEN PROVED MATHEMATICALLY THAT PLANES COULD NOT FLY.

It was understood for many years before the first powered flights happened that it was possible. They knew for a long time prior that flight was an engineering problem (developing powerful, yet light, motors) and NOT a question of physics.

 

[Kross]

The thing that always amazed me is that it only took us fleshbags seven years to figure out how to turn a wondrous invention into a weapon of war.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerial_warfare#Before_World_War_I

 

[Alpha_Geek]

On December 16th, the "Man Will Never Fly Society" gathers at the Wright Museum located on the dunes not far from "the" location.

They always have a prominent keynote speaker that gives a tongue-in-cheek speech proclaiming heavier than air powered flight a farce perpetrated upon the public.

Their motto? "Birds fly, Men drink."

I want to go down there once, just for the laughs.

 

[Zachary Smith]

The thing that always amazed me is that it only took us fleshbags seven years to figure out how to turn a wondrous invention into a weapon of war.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerial_warfare#Before_World_War_I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAgoZXYyRUQ&feature=related

"After the turn of the century
In the clear blue skies over Germany
Came a roar and a thunder men had never heard
Like the scream and the sound of a big war bird

Up in the sky, a man in a plane
Baron von Richthofen was his name
Eighty men tried, and eighty men died
Now they're buried together on the countryside

Ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty or more
The Bloody Red Baron was rollin' up the score
Eighty men died tryin' to end that spree
of the Bloody Red Baron of Germany

In the nick of time, a hero arose
A funny-looking dog with a big black nose
He flew into the sky to seek revenge
But the Baron shot him down - "Curses, foiled again!"

Ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty or more
The Bloody Red Baron was rollin' up the score
Eighty men died tryin' to end that spree
of the Bloody Red Baron of Germany

Now, Snoopy had sworn that he'd get that man
So he asked the Great Pumpkin for a new battle plan
He challenged the German to a real dogfight
While the Baron was laughing, he got him in his sight

That Bloody Red Baron was in a fix
He'd tried everything, but he'd run out of tricks
Snoopy fired once, and he fired twice
And that Bloody Red Baron went spinning out of sight

Ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty or more
The Bloody Red Baron was rollin' up the score
Eighty men died tryin' to end that spree
of the Bloody Red Baron of Germany

Ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty or more
The Bloody Red Baron was rollin' up the score
Eighty men died tryin' to end that spree
of the Bloody Red Baron of Germany"

 

[KirkusOveractus]

Near my home at The Franklin, they have a whole area in the flight section devoted to the Wrights, with items donated to The Franklin Institute by the last survivor of the two brothers, as well as one of the actual flyers they built (it was built sometime after the famed Kitty Hawk one, but the construction is amazing!)

Some of the artifacts are really great to see: small mock-ups of wing profiles they made, calculations written on their walls (sections of the wallpaper is on display), all kinds of great items.

Sometimes, I just spend a lot of time in that area, just marveling at how they conceived of their version of powered flight.

As to who "invented" powered flight, I tend to think of it along the lines of one of my other hobbies, electric guitars. For example, Les Paul is credited in some circles with the invention. But, Leo Fender and others were developing the same thing, around the same time, in different areas of the country.

 

[chardman]

BUT AT THE TIME IT HAD BEEN PROVED MATHEMATICALLY THAT PLANES COULD NOT FLY.

Wow, another topic that you don't understand at all! Who'd a thunk it?

Tell me, do you know any facts at all? Ever read a real science book? Do you have any scientific knowledge whatsoever?

 

[Zachary Smith]

It's kind of funny really, to realize the trend of it being important "WHO" invented something is kind of passing into history. Every school kid knows Bell "invented" the telephone and Edison "invented" the light-bulb (I say in quotes because they are the CREDITED inventors). Marconi "invented" the radio, the Wrights, the airplane.

But WHO "invented" the television? Microwave ovens? CD players? DVD players? The COMPUTER?

All of those have inventors, of course. Some of them are better known than others in certain circles but they're NOT "common" knowledge the way the general public can rattle off Edison and Bell. Salk's polio vaccine brought him fame but could the general public name another vaccine "inventor"? Probably not.

Just an observation but a curious one to note that who "invented" a certain thing is much less important now days. Probably because a lot of developments come from teams working in corporations and are group effort (much the way most of Edison's "inventions" were made, but he spun it to make himself look solely responsible).

 

[drychlick]

thank you all for your time! if you can please read first flight by t.a. heppnheimer! a great read love dr