7 The 100 Most Influential Inventors of All Time 7

two-way transatlantic wireless telegraphic communication
between Brant Rock and Scotland.
Fessenden further contributed in 1902 to the devel-
opment of radio by demonstrating the heterodyne
principle of converting high-frequency wireless signals to
a lower frequency that is more easily controlled and
amplified. This was the forerunner of the superheterodyne
principle, which made easy tuning of radio signals possible
and was a critical factor for the growth of commercial
broadcasting.
Fessenden has also been credited with inventing the
radio compass, the sonic depth finder, submarine signal-
ling devices, and the turboelectric drive for battleships.

Wilbur and Orville Wright

respectively, (b. April 16, 1867, near Millville, Ind., U.S.—d. May 30, 1912,
Dayton, Ohio), ; (b. Aug. 19, 1871, Dayton—d. Jan. 30, 1948, Dayton)

T

he Wright brothers, Wilbur and Orville, were
American inventors and aviation pioneers who
achieved the first powered, sustained, and controlled
airplane flight (1903) and built and flew the first fully
practical airplane (1905).

Early Family Life

Wilbur and Orville were the sons of Milton Wright, an
ordained minister of the Church of the United Brethren
in Christ, and Susan Catherine Koerner Wright, whom
Milton had met while he was training for the ministry and
while Susan was a student at a United Brethren college in
Hartsville, Ind. Two boys, Reuchlin (1861–1920) and Lorin
(1862–1939), were born to the couple before Wilbur was
born on a farm near Millville, Ind. The young family then
moved to Dayton, Ohio, so that Milton could take up