Suay, 2014
- Juan Miguel Suay and David Teira. "Kites: the rise and fall of a scientific object." Nuncius: Journal of the Material and Visual History of Science, 29.2 (2014), 439–463.
Yet, kites did not become successful scientific objects for the errors they generated, but rather for lack of epistemic productivity, in Daston’s sense: the scientific results that kites delivered were modest and in all cases it was soon discovered that they could be attained more efficiently by alternative means. In our view, it is interesting to explore kites as an unsuccessful scientific object not in the usual sense of one that was proven erroneous or incorrect, but rather one that could not stand the test of scientific competition. However, even after their scientific productivity was exhausted, their success in grasping the attention of the public kept them within the boundaries of science for a few more decades.
Argues that kites did play a role in prototyping gliders which became successful airplanes, but that scientists and engineers did not continue to use them because of the availability of superior options for accomplishing the desired results.
| Original title | Kites: the rise and fall of a scientific object |
|---|---|
| Simple title | Kites |
| Authors | Juan Miguel Suay, David Teira |
| Date | 2014 |
| Countries | NL |
| Languages | en |
| Keywords | kite, electricity, Alexander Wilson, William Radcliffe Birt, Benjamin Franklin, John Albert Euler, William A. Eddy, Lawrence Hargrave, William Froude, George Cayley, Otto Lilienthal, Octave Chanute, Augustus Moore Herring, Wright Brothers, Alexander Graham Bell, Blue Hill Observatory, meteorology, instrument, glider |
| Journal | |
| Related to aircraft? | 1 |
| Page count | 26 |
| Word count | |
| Wikidata id |
