With the design and construction of his first working glider, Otto Lilienthal (1848-1896) bestowed a sense of viability and respectability on the young science of aviation. Lilienthal flew thousands of flights on gliders he designed based on careful observations of birds. His work directly inspired Orville and Wilbur Wright.

During the early days of the Industrial Revolution, notions of human flight were ridiculed. Yet Prussian design engineer Otto Lilienthal disregarded the social stigma associated with flying machine inventors and applied himself in earnest to the study of aerodynamic forces and design concepts. His hope was to further the quest to achieve manned flight. During his lifetime he accumulated 20 patents for his machine designs, including four for aviation devices.

His first crude aviation design was a simple pair of wings with which he attempted to gain altitude by jumping from a board. Eventually, Lilienthal achieved flight distances as high...