THE WRIGHT BROTHERS AS SCIENTISTS. Although labeled as bicycle mechanics, the Wright brothers solved a number of scientific problems using scientific methods. For example:
1.Wilbur studied the flights of birds and observed that birds changed the angle of the ends of their wings to make their bodies roll right or left. This led to the use by the Wright brothers of wing-warping to control direction (now done by ailerons).
2. They built a small wind tunnel and used it to test the design of miniature wings made from bicycle spokes and scrap metal.
3.They used data from more wind tunnel tests to design their propellers.
4.As described in the wikipedia entry, they did studies which changed the value of a coefficient in a lift equation which had been used for a hundred years.