The First Mile

CHAPTER 6

The Experiment Cookbook

For centuries, man looked up in the sky and wondered, “What if . . . ?” If birds could fly, surely there was a way for humans to take to the air as well. How did would-be aviators test their assumptions? Most built a version of their solution, went to a high place, and jumped. Incorrect assumptions had predictable results. The industrial revolution opened up new possibilities, so by the late nineteenth century, tinkerers around the world began building physical prototypes of mechanical solutions, dedicating years of their lives to creating machines that frustratingly kept failing.

The way the Wright brothers approached the problem is instructive for innovators contemplating how to progress their ideas through ...