The Wright Brothers Were the First to Fly an Airplane While the accomplishments of the gifted brothers from

Dayton, Ohio cannot be diminished, the fact is there are a number of people who may have accomplished the feat of being the first to fly a manned, heavier-than-air craft in powered flight (as opposed to unpowered gliders, which had been flown for years before the Wright Brothers first flight). Probably the best claim to having been the first is attributed to a German immigrant named Gustav Whitehead, who may have made one and possibly two flights in a small monoplane of his own design (and powered by a tiny motor also of his own design) as early as 1901two full years before the Wright Brothers tried it. Unfortunately, ol Gustav was a better mechanic and aviator than an archivist and he neglected to get any photos of the flight or document it (although there was a reporter from a local paper supposedly presentalong with a handful of witnesseswho allegedly saw a second flight in 1902). Had he done so, he might have changed aviation history rather than remaining just a footnote. Whitehead wasnt alone in the claim of being the first, however, as some maintain that Frenchman Clement Ader may have accomplished the task in 1897 in a frail-looking plane named the Avion III and another Frenchman, Felix du Temple, might have done it as early as 1874. Even a Russian Army Officer, Alexander Mozhaiski, supposedly accomplished the feat in a monster steam powered aircraft in 1884, so the list of candidates who may have beat the Wrights into the air is considerable. The Wrights, however, did come up with the first truly controllable aircraft, making the previous claims fairly moot in that none of those earlier attempts flew very far (usually a couple hundred of feet) or were controllablewith the possible exception of Whitehead. If only the man had thought to buy a camera. 1 ) Thomas Edison Invented the Light Bulb Like so many great inventions in history, this one too must fall into the I wonder who really invented it first category. Though Edison is given the credit, work on an incandescent light bulb had been going on long before ol Tom wrapped his prodigious brain around the problem. As far back as 1802 a guy named Humphrey Davy passed an electrical current through a thin strip of platinum to create the first short-lived but impressive light show and after that the race was on to see who could be the first to find a filament that could last more than, say, five minutes. It wouldnt be until 1841 when another Englishman, Frederick de Moleyns, would patent the first incandescent lamp using platinum wires in a vacuum as a filament. (However, the setup proved to be too expensive to be commercially viable, which is why no one speaks reverently today of de Moleyns remarkable invention.) After that, it was just a matter of time until someone stumbled upon a material that would be both economical and long-lasting, both of which would be required to make the light bulb useful. While Edisons team did come up with a carbonized bamboo filament that could last over 1200 hours, thereby making the light bulb practical, another British physicist (clever folks, those Brits) by the name of Joseph Swan actually beat Edison when he came up with something that pretty closely resembled Edisons later bulb by a couple of years. He had even begun installing the things in pubs around London while ol Tom was still seeing if human hair would work as a filament. However, for some reason, history has not been kind to Mr. Swan and he remains largely forgotten (which probably explains why he could be frequently found afterwards drinking away his sorrows in one of Londons many well-lit pubs).

3 ) We Only Use 10% of Our Brain This fact has been so often repeated that most people dont even question it anymore (thereby demonstrating that it may be true). However, even a moments consideration should demonstrate what a fallacy this idea is. The brain is a magnificent organ that does everything from making sure you dont forget to blink once in a while to helping you remember where you put the car keys. To use only 10% of it, then, would render it little more than vestigial organ which, while making getting shot in the head more an annoyance than a catastrophe, is obviously nonsense. The fact is that despite evidence to the contrary, everyone uses 100% of their brain all the time; its just that different parts of it do different things. While it is possible that only 10% of the brain is used for the higher brain functions such as cognitive thought, reasoning, and memory, that doesnt mean the rest of it is sitting idle. Its just that those other parts are busy doing all sorts of other things like keeping your heart pumping and making sense of the millions of bits of data being sent to it by the bodies sensing organs. In reality, science is only just beginning to understand the complexities of the human brain and its capacity for doing all the stuff it does on a daily basis, making it more of a mystery than ever. The prospect that many of us dont use our brain to its fullest capacity, however, may be worth considering, but that is a subject for another day.