360Wilbur and Orville Wright
In 60 words
Wilbur and Orville Wright were American brothers who ran a bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio, and built the first successful powered aeroplane. On 17 December 1903, at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Orville flew the Wright Flyer for 12 seconds. Their key breakthrough was a way to control an aircraft in the air, still used in principle today.
The brothers studied birds and tested gliders on the windy dunes of the Outer Banks. They built their own wind tunnel to test wing shapes, and their own light engine.
After the first flights, they improved their designs and gave public demonstrations in France and the United States in 1908, amazing crowds. Their 1903 Flyer is displayed in the Smithsonian in Washington.