Orville Wright

BY: RYAN

The wright Brothers. People We think of as " Oh, they just invented the modern airplane. There isn't any other really important things about them". Well, you might think that, but there is truly a great variety of things about them that you most likely didn't know. I, however will just be exploring the life of Orville Wright. We will delve into the fascinating history of how he, and his older brother Wilbur, developed the first airplane. I will begin with the early years of his career then move on to details about the plane. Then finish with some fun facts from Orville's life.

Now, like I said, we are going to start with the early years for Orville. Orville Wright was born in Dayton, Ohio, on August 19, 1871, to Susan and Milton Wright. Orville also had four siblings, Reuchlin, Lorin, Kathrine, and you guessed it, Wilbur. Orville and Wilbur were named after Orville Dewey and Wilbur Fisk, who were clergymen there father adored. When the Wright brothers ere young, they received a toy flying machine that they named "Bat". It was this toy that inspired their passion for aviation. The young Wrights played with the toy so much that it broke, witch made the boys ask themselves " Why won't it fly?" They all the time when they were not at school or working on homework building tis so called "Big Bat". They spent a lot of time working on this "Big Bat", so much we are going to fast forward a bit to the day they launched it. One of the Wrights let go of this flying machine while the other twisted it. The Wrights let go of the flying machine and it flew up for about two seconds, then fell straight to the ground. Their mother, Susan, said that they should continue trying to make an airplane. Wilbur simply said " No, mother, we do not know enough about flying machines. Also Orville and I do not have enough money."

We now go to Wilbur and Orville's bike shop. Wright Cycle Company, and learn about what they did there. Wright Cycle Company was established in 1892, providing many bicycles to the world of the late 1800's and the early 1900's Every penny they made there funded the production of the plane. The bike shop also provided good education for plane building, mechanical skills, and business experience.

Let's move on to a different topic: Orville and the plane The plane prototype was having a difficult time steering. Orville was the one who managed to fix this problem. I found it really entertaining how he solved this problem. One night, he had way too many cups of coffee, couldn't sleep, and stayed up all night figuring out the problem. Orville, however, was not the one who completed the first flight. To decide who piloted, Orville and Wilbur flipped a coin and Orville lost. Orville was also involved in a terrible plane crash in 1908. Photographer W.S. Clime said "There was a crack like a pistol shot above. I saw a piece of a propeller blade twirling off southward. For a brief period it kept on it's course, then swerved to the left and with a swoop backwards it fell for halve the distance to the ground." The next year, 1909, Orville went on a flight with Lieutenant Frank Lahm as passenger, for a world record of one hour and twelve minuets.

Now my last topic is just going to be some random fact's about Orville. Did you know that Orville played the mandolin? Or that when the Wright Company was created Wilbur was the President and Orville the vice president? Well, now you do. Orville was also pretty good at making biscuits and candies. Orville lived to be 76 years old, passing away on January 30, 1948. He also helped start the career of African-American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar.

Orville was a very interesting person to study. I was really amazed to learn all the things he did to help the first plane in the air. It was also fascinating to learn some of the personal fact's about him, like playing the mandolin. One of my favorite fact's about him was that he fixed the steering problem because he had too much coffee. I hope you enjoyed learning about Orville Wright as much as I did.

SORCES

David McCollogh

The Wright Brothers

Lawrence Goldstone

Birdmen

Kitty Hawk

Google

Louis Saben. Joann Early Macken

Th Wright Brothers

Mary Anning

By: Frances

Welcome, today i'm going to tell you and maybe show you all about Mary Anning, and the fossils she found! Did you know that even dinosaur hair can be preserved and harded and considered a fossil! Very cool, right? A fossil also remains evidence of a once living dino on earth!


And now, we will talk about Mary Anning. Mary was an unlikely paleontologist, especially unlikely for England in the early 1800's. Mary and her brother worked side, to side along the seaside cliffs near their home, their father had taught them to sopt treasures in the layers of limestone and shale. What Mary didn't have was education, Mary also had the time nor the money for school, selling the fossils she'd collected helped her family have food on the table. One fossil at a time. One meal at a time. It was Mary's brother who found a skull in the cliff side. he worked a little, but gave up. mary took over. First, she unearths vertebrae. Next ribs. Then flippers, and finally a long tail. Grand and educated men set out to identify Mary's creature. Then men eventually named this discovery "Ichthyosaur" and proudly claimed their new knowledge in aricles, books, and sermons. Mary copied the illustrations to learn the technique of cataloging bones and reporting discoveries. She taught herself anotomy by disecting squid and cuttlefish on her kitchen table, very interesting, right? Little by little, lesson by lesson, an uneducated girl from a poor family becoming a scientist. More rich folks, scientists, collectors, and geoligists purchased mary's fossils and brought them to museums and universities to be studied and displayed. One bone led to another. and another. And another! This is no Ichthyosaur! It had a long neck, and very long neck, A tiny head, and paddles. Mary worked for months to release this odd fossil from the rocky seaside cliffs, the men debated a long time, and finally concluded that Mary's bones were from one very real, very new species. They named it "Plesiosaur" Mary kept learning on her own.


Next, she discovered a diamond shaped tail. Claws and a beak and wings! She had discovered on of the first "pterosaurs". Mary's Ichthyosaurs, Plesiosaur, and now Pterosaur suddenly inspired new theories about life on earth long ago. These fossils and prehistoric life. They were forming a brand new science paleontology. But two-hundred years later, Mary Anning is reconized as the first paleontologist. One fossil at a time, ond discovery at a time.


I hope you are enjoying this very cool learning about Mary Anning! Mary found and sold fossilized "seashells", including many ammonites, one of which she sold for enough money to feed her family for a whole week. But her more important discoveries were one of the fossils' of the larger prehistoric creatures, beginning with the Ichthyosaur. The cliffs of the Jurassic seashore, where Mary lived, were underwater when prehistoric creatures populated the earth two hundred million years ago. Ichthyosaur means "fish lizard" by the way. The word "dinosaur" hav'ent been invented yet. The men had made an anouncement that shocked the world, Mary's finds wasn't just old. It was a million years old! Their declaration shattered the commonly held beleif that the earth was only six thousand years old. Also, no one had realized that a species could become extinct until they studied the remains of a creature that no longer walked the earth. Over the years Mary also found many odd, dark, lumpy pebbles inside skeletons. She examined them. Reread her notes. Studied her drawings. Mary figured out what they were! Except it was something a lady should'nt talk about.... She proclaimed theses stones, known as bezoars, were actually fossilized poop! Geoligisted sneered. Scientists scoffed.

Then they took a closer look, and realized she was right! Mary's discovery helped scholars learn more about what ancient creatures are. She also found many long, thin, cone-shaped fossil-shaped fossils. Ordinary, at least on the outside. Curious, she cut one open. Tucked inside was a small pocket filled with a thick, dark substance. Mary was even more curious now! Adding a few drops of water turned the substance into....ink! Mary's discovery proved that ancient aquatic creatures squirted ink to hide themselves from hungry predators! When Mary was twenty-four, she made another interesting discovery. This creature didn't have legs or flippers, it had wings! She had unearthed an flying reptile called a pterosaur. Scientists all over the world were talking about Mary's discoveries. Even though Mary could identify a species from a single bone and later could rebuild the entire skeleton like a jigsaw puzzle, she couldn't join the Geological society of Londen. Women were not allowed. She couldn't attend lectures or teach university classes. Or even take classes! Just like long-buried fossils, Mary's achievements have slowly been uncovered and shared with the world.


Her daring discoveries helped form Paleontology- the branch of geology that uses fossils to study prehistoric life. And she did it all with a homemade hammer, a chisel, and a never-ending quest to fearlessly keep exploring, and learning. My favorite thing to talk about is the fossils she found. I hope you enjoyed this very cool journey about Mary Anning!

Sources:

Dinosaur lady, by Linda Skeers.

She sells Seashells, by Heidi E.Y Stemple