The 100: The Most Influential Person

What makes someone an influential person? How do you tell how influential a person is? Michael Hart’s book The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History, includes hundreds of people who did something big to impact the world in an amazing way. On that list are many inventors, such as the Wright Brothers. Michael Hart states that, “In deciding where to rank them on this list, therefore, the main factor, is one’s assessment of the importance of the airplane itself. It seems to me that the airplane is a far less important invention than either the printing press or the steam engine, each of which has revolutionized the human existence. Still, it is unquestionable an invention of great significance, with applications in both peace

In the process they invented many other things that went into the making of the first working flyer. “Instead of building something solid that was controlled by levers and wheels like a car, the Wright brothers built a flexible airplane that was controlled partly by the movement of the pilot, like a bicycle. The result was the 1903 Wright Flyer. The Flyer had two sets of wings, one above the other, which were about 12 meters from tip to tip. They made their own 12-horsepower engine, as well as the two propellers the engine spun” (Great Scientific Achievements). The Wright Brothers used what technology they had and invented even new and better technology that they used in the making of the first flying vehicle. Things that they invented in the process included a flexible airplane structure, and their own engine. Their most known achievement was this, “On December 17, 1903, at 10:35 a.m., after eight years of research and planning, Orville Wright took to the air for a historic twelve seconds. He covered 37 meters of ground and 152 meters of air space. Both brothers took two flights that morning. On the fourth flight, Wilbur flew for fifty-nine seconds over 260 meters of ground and through more than 800 meters of air space” (Great Scientific Achievements). This was the date of Wilbur and Orville’s first successful flights of any of their previous flying models. Only 5 people witnessed this event and news of it didn’t quickly. Regardless, this was the day that the Wright Brothers made history. Their fame didn’t stop at just successfully testing their flyer, “The brothers continued their experiments at Dayton and built several biplanes. Record-breaking flights in 1908 by Orville in the United States and by Wilbur in France brought them worldwide fame. In 1909 the U.S. government accepted the Wright machine for army use, and the brothers established