Around here at Entefy, we’re great fans of courageous innovation and the boundary-busting minds behind great invention. A tweet from aviation pioneer Chuck Yeager caught our eyes because in just 156 characters it tells an amazing story of the pace of technological advancement in the 20th and 21st centuries.
Chuck Yeager was the daredevil test pilot who flew the first aircraft to break the sound barrier in 1947. At 94 years old, he is today an active commenter on social media where he tweeted about a conversation he had with Orville Wright in 1948:
Dec 17, 1903. It’s been 114 years since Wright Brothers 1st powered flight. I met Orville – he was impressed we broke the sound barrier just 44 yrs later.
Along with his brother Wilbur, Orville Wright was a pioneer of powered flight. Born in 1871, he piloted the Flyer 1 aircraft at Kitty Hawk in 1903, and passed away in 1948 at age 76. Wright witnessed the entirety of early aviation, from the first manned flights to the breaking of the sound barrier. During Yeager’s lifetime, he has witnessed aerospace breakthroughs like the moon landing, the Voyager 1 spacecraft leaving the edges of our solar system in 2013, and Space Race 2.0 milestones like SpaceX reusable rocket boosters.
Yeager was 25 at the time of his conversation with Orville Wright. Today the average 25-year-old male has a life expectancy of 87.8 years. What technological marvels lie ahead in the 21st century as courageous innovation thrives around the globe?