The Wright Brothers Didn't Invent The Airplane...And 9 Other Inventors Who've Been Wrongly Credited

Fame and fortune sometimes require more than brains and effort, especially in the realm of invention.
Whether modified and improved upon, grabbed by a more famous inventor, or just completely forgotten, original inventors are lost to history more than most people realize.
The following are 10 inventions generally attributed to someone who didn't create them -- stories of controversy, conspiracy, and downright confusion.
Let's set the record straight.
The Wright brothers did not invent the airplane
Alleged inventor: The Wright brothers
Actual Inventor: Richard Pearse
The story: In March of 1902, the New Zealand farmer took flight for roughly 350 yards (by most eyewitness accounts) in a monoplane aircraft before crashing into a hedge. This little-known experiment took place months before the Wright brothers more sustained flight.
Microsoft did not create the computer desktop and GUI
Alleged Inventor: Microsoft
Actual Inventor: Xerox PARC
The story: The computer desktop and its graphical user interface -- which lets people interact with their computer as they would the physical world, with buttons and windows -- is typically attributed to Microsoft, but the distinction should go the Xerox company.
The Xerox Alto was released and sold to the public in 1973, though the GUI wouldn't become economically viable until Apple's Lisa and Macintosh machines of the 1980s.
Henry Ford did not invent the first automobile
Alleged Inventor: Henry Ford
Actual Inventor: Karl Benz
The story: When most people think of the automobile, they think of Henry Ford and his assembly lines. In fact, it was a German contemporary, Karl Benz, who was awarded the first patent for an automobile fueled by gas in 1886.
Benz's "motorwagon", first designed in 1885, went on sale to the general public a few years later. He built 25 models in the first 5 years, and his wife is credited with making the first road trip.
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