The Chinese are credited with inventing the first kites, perhaps as early as 1000 b.c. No one knows what inspired their creation, but they were used for pleasure and had military purposes as well, such as measuring the distance to enemy forts in order to tunnel under them.

The use of kites eventually spread from China to the Pacific. In Japan, Korea, Myanmar (until recently known as Burma), Indonesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia they attained religious and ceremonial significance. There are stories from these cultures about giant kites that could carry a person. In Japan people used kites to carry tiles and bricks to workmen constructing towers.

Kites eventually became known around the world, but it took a long time before any scientific use was made of them. In 1749 Alexander Wilson measured temperature variations at different altitudes by raising thermometers on six kites flying as high as 3,000 feet (915 m...