Main content

Katharine Wright

Lucy Powell considers the impact Katharine Wright had on the success of her two brothers, those famous pioneers of aviation.

Radio 3 New Generation Thinker Lucy Powell tells the story of five brilliant women, all the siblings of renowned achievers in the arts and science, whose own success was overlooked 鈥 either by their own epoch, or by the annals of history ever since. Virginia Woolf famously reflected on the neglect of brilliant women with her fiction of 鈥淪hakespeare鈥檚 Sister鈥.

The Wright brothers are two of the most famous siblings in history. But they also had a younger sister who, when their mother died, took on the responsibility of running the household at age 14. When they successfully flew to Europe, it was Katharine, as the only French speaker among them, who communicated their scientific achievements, helping them find fame. Lucy explores the story of one of very few American women to receive the L茅gion d鈥檋onneur, who also played a crucial role in the women鈥檚 suffrage movement.

Produced by Debbie Kilbride
A Tempo & Talker production

Available now

14 minutes

Broadcasts

  • Thu 11 Mar 2021 22:45
  • Thu 9 Mar 2023 22:45

Death in Trieste

Death in Trieste

A 1760s murder still informs ideas about aesthetics, a certain sort of sex, and death.

Watch: My Deaf World

Watch: My Deaf World

Five compelling experiences of what it is like to be deaf in 21st-century Britain.

The Book that Changed Me

Five figures from the arts and science introduce books that changed their lives and work.

Download The Essay

Download The Essay

Download all the episodes from the series and listen at your leisure.

Podcast