Why Planes Cannot Fly
In 1903, Professor Simon Newcomb, a professor of mathematics and astronomy at John Hopkins University, and also the vice-president of the National Academy of Science, published an article proving that building a flying machine was an impossibility. Newcomb's prediction, however, was proved wrong the same year, on December 17, when Orville and Wilber Wright managed to safely fly their Flyer I for ten seconds. In fact, so much was the aura of Newcomb's reputation that for a considerable time, many scientist refused to believe that the Wright brothers had actually succeeded in making a plane.
Interestingly, even Newcomb continued to disbelieve the fact of flying. In 1906, he wrote another article, in which he asserted:
"The demonstration that no combination of known substance, known form of machinery, and known forms of forces can be united in any practical way by which men might fly seems to the writer as complete as possible for a demonstration of any physical fact to be."
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