A Venn-diagram marked "Road to Wrights". Listed without connections: tethered flight by several individuals between c. 1000 - 1300; untethered flight by Montgolfier Bros. 1783; Untethered heavier than air flight by Caley 1853; Heavier than air and motor powered by Cughot 1769; Heavier than air, untethered flight, motor Wrights 1903.

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1. Juho Mäntysalo (iju@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 23-Dec-2024 13:10:11 JST Juho Mäntysalo

   in reply to

   @wonderofscience

   I'm using this to point out that Wrights didn't just pop out from the sea, but that they stood on the shoulders of others.

   The missing piece was their skill as bicycle manufacturers to bring the weight of the components down.

   (There are stories of unthethered flight before Caley, but as the saying goes: inventor is the one who invents something last (eg. writes their method down and demonstrates use worth copying the method), not the one doing something first.)

   #History