The Wright Brothers—Wilbur and Orville Wright—were American inventors and aviation pioneers who achieved the first sustained, controlled, powered heavier-than-air flight on December 17, 1903, at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, inaugurating the age of aviation. Bicycle mechanics without college degrees, they succeeded through rigorous scientific method.
The Wright Brothers built their own wind tunnel and tested over 200 wing designs, using extensive experimental data to solve the problem of flight control. Their three-axis control system remains fundamental to all aircraft design today—from commercial airliners to modern drones and spacecraft—built on the foundation of their pioneering work.
