American inventor (died 1912)

Wilbur Wright

The Wright brothers, Orville Wright and Wilbur Wright, were American aviation pioneers generally credited with inventing, building, and flying the world's first successful airplane. They made the first controlled, sustained flight of an engine-powered, heavier-than-air aircraft with the Wright Flyer on December 17, 1903, four miles (6 km) south of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, at what is now known as Kill Devil Hills. In 1904 the Wright brothers developed the Wright Flyer II, which made longer-duration flights including the first circle, followed in 1905 by the first truly practical fixed-wing aircraft, the Wright Flyer III.

Born

1867

April 16

Died

1912

Era

1860s

Country

—

About

Wilbur, in brief

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Life timeline

Key dates

1867 Born
1912 Died

Also on April 16

What else happened on this day, through history

-1457 Battle of Megiddo: The first battle to have been recorded in what is accepted as relatively reliable detail.
69 Defeated by Vitellius' troops at Bedriacum, Roman emperor Otho commits suicide.
73 Masada, a Jewish fortress, falls to the Romans after several months of siege, ending the First Jewish–Roman War.
556 Pope Pelagius I is consecrated following Imperial approval by Emperor Justinian I.

See all of April 16 →

The world in 1912

When Wilbur departed

april 10 RMS Titanic sets sail from Southampton, UK, on her maiden and only voyage.
april 14 The British passenger liner RMS Titanic hits an iceberg in the North Atlantic and begins to sink.
april 15 The British passenger liner RMS Titanic sinks in the North Atlantic at 2:20 a.m., two hours and forty minutes after hitting an iceberg. Only 710 of 2,224 passengers and crew on board survive.
april 16 Harriet Quimby becomes the first woman to fly an airplane across the English Channel.

Read the year 1912 →

Same-day contemporaries

Also born on April 16

Bill Belichick 1952– American football coach Charles Montagu 1661–1715 1st Earl of Halifax, English poet and politician, First Lord of the Treasury (died 1715) Dusty Springfield 1939–1999 English singer and record producer (died 1999) George Bingham 1800– 3rd Earl of Lucan, English field marshal and politician (died 1888) John Franklin 1786–1847 English admiral and politician, fourth Lieutenant Governor of Van Diemen's Land (died 1847) Merce Cunningham 1919–2009 American dancer and choreographer (died 2009) Paul Waner 1903– American baseball player and manager (died 1965) Peter Ustinov 1921–2004 English actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2004) Petrus Apianus 1495–1557 German mathematician and astronomer (died 1557)

See everything on April 16 →

Same-year contemporaries

Also born in 1867

Arnold Bennett 1867–1931 English author and playwright (born 1867) Arturo Toscanini 1867–1957 Italian cellist and conductor (born 1867) Charles Dillon Perrine 1867–1951 American-Argentinian astronomer (died 1951) Fred Tate 1867– English cricketer and coach (died 1943) Harold Mahony 1867–1905 Scottish-Irish tennis player (died 1905) Hector Guimard 1867–1942 French-American architect (died 1942) Józef Piłsudski 1867–1935 Polish field marshal and politician, 15th Prime Minister of Poland (died 1935) Pierre Bonnard 1867–1947 French painter (born 1867)

Keep going

More to explore

Wilbur's birthday April 16 Wilbur's zodiac Aries When Wilbur departed 1912