Francesco Lana
Francesco Lana was a seventeenth-century Jesuit who designed a vacuum balloon capable of raising a wicker basket. However, he never constructed this airship, observing that such a machine could be used in warfare to destroy cities by dropping fireballs on them.[1]
His idea for creating a vacuum was to fill the balloons from a hole a the top with water, then seal the hole, then drain water out from a tap below.[2]
His writing also explored some differences between air and sea travel — balloonists have more options for taking shelter midvoyage — and suggested the anchor for LTA aircraft. Lana also raised the issue of air resistance.[2]
Lana's plan aroused much interest and discussion. Though the Italian Borelli considered it impracticable, German savants, such as Leibniz and Professors Sturm and Lohmeier, spoke well of it. At all events, Lana's influence on his successors was suggestive and encouraging; although his plan was never carried into execution, the principles so clearly set forth by him form the basis of modern aeronautics, and his importance is becoming ever more clearly recognized in our times.[3]
A translated quotation from his Prodromo, p. 61:
I do not see any other difficulty that could prevail against this invention, save one, which seems to me weightier than all others, and this is that God will never permit such a machine to be constructed, in order to preclude the numerous consequences which might disturb the civil and political government among men. For who sees not that no city would be secure from surprise attacks, as the airship might appear at any hour directly over its market-square and would land there its crew? The same would happen to the courtyards of private houses and to ships crossing the sea, for the airship would only have to descend out of the air down to the sails of the sea-going vessels and lop their cables. Even without descending, it could hurl iron pieces which would capsize the vessels and kill men, and the ships might be burnt with artificial fire, balls, and bombs. This might be done not only to ships, but also to houses, castles, and cities, with perfect safety for those who throw such missiles down from an enormous height.[4]
Publications
- Prodromo overo saggio di alcune inventioni nuove promesso all' Arte Maestra (1670)
References
- ↑ Black, 1943, pp. 8–9.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Dollfus & Bouché, 1938, Histoire de l'aéronautique, p. 8.
- ↑ Balthasar Wilhelm, "Francesco Lana", Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 8, 1913; pp. 772–773.
- ↑ Laufer, 1928, Prehistory of Aviation, p. 22.
Links
| Names | Francesco Lana |
|---|---|
| Birth date | 1631-12-10 |
| Death date | 1687-02-22 |
| Countries | IT |
| Locations | Brescia |
| Occupations | clergy |
| Tech areas | LTA, Balloon |
| Affiliations | |
| Wikidata id |
