Langley, at that time sixty-nine years of age, took this
defeat so keenly to heart that it hastened his death, which
occurred three years later. "Failure in the aerodrome itself," he
wrote, "or its engines there has been none; and it is believed
that it is at the moment of success, and when the engineering
problems have been solved, that a lack of means has prevented a
continuance of the work."
It was truly "at the moment of success" that Langley's work was
stopped. On December 17, 1903, the Wright brothers made the first
successful experiment in which a machine carrying a man rose by
its own power, flew naturally and at even speed, and descended
without damage. These brothers, Wilbur and Orville, who at last
opened the long besieged lanes of the air, were born in Dayton,
Ohio. Their father, a clergyman and later a bishop, spent his
leisure in scientific reading and in the invention of a
typewriter which, however, he never perfected. He inspired an
interest in scientific principles in his boys' minds by giving
them toys which would stimulate their curiosity. One of these
toys was a helicopter, or Cayley's Top, which would rise and
flutter awhile in the air.
After several helicopters of their own, the brothers made
original models of kites, and Orville, the younger, attained an
exceptional skill in flying them.
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