The origin of aerospace engineering can be traced back to the aviation pioneers around the late 19th to early 20th centuries, although the work of Sir George Cayley dates from the last decade of the 18th to the mid-19th century. One of the most important people in the history of aeronautics[8] and a pioneer in aeronautical engineering,[9] Cayley is credited as the first person to separate the forces of lift and drag, which affect any atmospheric flight vehicle.[10]
Early knowledge of aeronautical engineering was largely empirical, with some concepts and skills imported from other branches of engineering.[11] Some key elements, like fluid dynamics, were understood by 18th-century scientists.[12]
In December 1903, the Wright Brothers performed the first sustained, controlled flight of a powered, heavier-than-air aircraft, lasting 12 seconds. The 1910s saw the development of aeronautical engineering through the design of World War I military aircraft.
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