The Wright Brothers: Experimenting with Trials and Tribulations

Everyone knows Orville and Wilburt Wright as the pioneers of aviation, achieving flight for the first time on Dec. 17, 1903. However, the story of their experimental designs are worth further understanding through the lens of their creative process. 

The brothers originally took inspiration from German glider pioneer, Otto Lilienthal, as well as the mechanics of birds in flight. This curiosity led them to further their research into how balance and control can be maintained in the air. In this research they found many attempts and scientific papers detailing failed attempts at manufacturing flight. While this was important insight, there was a ceiling to how far this research could take them, forcing them to develop a scientific approach of their own.

They began building kites and gliders to experiment with different shapes for balance and systems of control. In Rick Rubin’s The Creative Act: A Way of Being, experimentation is labeled as the “second stage”, entering after the beginning seeds have been collected. For the wright brothers, the seeds were their inspiration and research and they intuitively advanced into experimentation when the starting points were no longer progressing their agenda. 

Rubin also writes about how the experimentation stage should be focused on ideas that flourish and generating possibilities. The Wright brothers’ construction of the wind tunnel to test their designs is an example of this as it opened the door to new experimental possibilities. They focused on this largely successful idea, and it led them to trial and error thoroughly, eventually leading them to build the first functioning flying machine. 

Their experimental process was challenging with many surprises along the way. According to Rubin, mystery is the heart of experiment. This was the case for the Wright brothers, as the unknown drove their curiosity and sparked their experimental design process, leading them to create the possibility of human flight.