Newcomb, 1906, Side-lights on astronomy and kindred fields of popular science

From Inventing aviation
Jump to navigation Jump to search

This book is mainly of interest here because of a chapter on Flying Machines which reiterates Newcomb's skeptical outlook on the contemporary state of the art. (He notes in the preface that the material in this chapter is drawn from writing in The New York Independent and McClure's Magazine.)

Newcomb argued that science was not far enough advanced to support the development of a successful flying technology:

It is quite clear to me that success must await progress of a different kind from that which the inventors of flying-machines are aiming at. We want a great discovery, not a great invention. It is an unfortunate fact that we do not always appreciate the distinction between progress in scientific discovery and ingenious application of discovery to the wants of civilization. (333)

He also speculated that if there was any hope for flight in the near future, it was in lighter-, not heavier-than-air vessels. (343)


Original title Side-lights on astronomy and kindred fields of popular science
Simple title Side lights on astronomy and kindred fields of popular science
Authors Simon Newcomb
Date 1906
Countries US, GB
Languages en
Keywords astronomy, reprinted, reprints, periodicals, science, lift, astronomers, geometry, marine, compass, organization, research, ephemeris, nautical, almanac, knowledge, social, progress, Samuel Pierpont Langley, Hiram Stevens Maxim, Alexander Graham Bell, aerodynamics, steam, propulsion, design, LTA, heavier-than-air, cargo, passengers
Journal
Related to aircraft? 1
Page count 349
Word count
Wikidata id

Sources

  • Brockett 1910, page 627, entry 9127: Newcomb, Simon. Side-lights on astronomy and kindred fields of popular science; essays and addresses by Simon Newcomb. Contents.--The unsolved problems of astronomy. The new problems of the universe. The structure of the unverse. The extent of the universe. Making and using a telescope. What the astronomers are doing. Life in the universe. How the planets are weighed. The mariner's compass. The fairyland of geometry. The organization of scientific research. Can we make it rain? The astronomical ephemeris and nautical almanac. The world's debt to astronomy. An astronomical friendship. The evolution of the scientific investigator. The evolution astronomical knowledge. Aspects of American astronomy. The universe as an organism. The relation of scientific method to social progress. The outlook for the flying machine. New York and London, Harper & Brothers, 1906, p. vii, [1], 1 1., 349, [1], front. (port.), ills., pls. Largely reprinted from various periodicals. LC (9127
  • Scan at Internet Archive
    • Direct link to chapter XXI, "The Outlook for the Flying Machine"