http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/pearse1.html http://www.nzedge.com/heroes/pearse.html
But claims of 'first' are always dubious. We all stand on the shoulders of our predecessors. Interestingly, nobody seemed to doubt him. Not so much of the snake oil suspicion in NZ I guess - a particularly sad form of Pathological Scepticism.
dave
On Wednesday, January 12, 2005, at 06:47 AM, Jed Rothwell wrote:
Item 23 in this newsletter, "Pathological Skepticism" by Bill Beaty, is incorrect about the nature and the chronology of the controversy between the Smithsonian and the Wright brothers. Langley himself had nothing to do with it. As far as I know, he accepted the Wright's claims. He died in 1906, long before the controversy erupted, and two years before the mainstream believed the Wright's claims.
The controversy was caused by Langley's successors, especially Walcott, by Glen Curtiss (a commercial rival who used Langley's work to try to break the patent), and by A. G. Bell. Bell awarded the first Langley Medal to the Wrights in 1910, but in his speech he belittled their accomplishments, making it seem as if they were merely students of Langley. Bell was a great man but this was an ugly incident.
In my opinion, Langley did not contribute much to the progress of aviation.
- Jed
