"Who Invented the Airplane? Cornell University in the Social Network of Early Aviation"
Lecture by: Prof. Francis Moon
February 13, 2014 - 4:30-6:30 pm - 101 Phillips Hall, Cornell University
Abstract: Did the Wright Brothers really invent the airplane? Is the birthplace of US aviation actually in Hammondsport NY?
Francis Moon, the ASME 2011 Engineer-Historian Awardee, will discuss the networks of inventors, engineers, scientists who contributed to the birth of the first flying machines. He will describe how Robert Thurston, Dean of the Sibley College of Mechanical Engineering, became a key node in this network and how a Sibley Graduate of 1892 helped organize an international conference on flying machines at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, a decade before the Wright Brothers historic flights. This lecture is based on Professor Moon's new book, "Social Networks in the History of Innovation and Inventions", published by Springer 2013. In this book he describes how an exponentially increasing network of more than 60 individuals spanning North America, Europe and even Egypt created the first airplanes. He also shows how this innovation network had characteristics of modern social networks such as the World-wide Web
Kris Young ’06, M.Eng. ’07 was a program manager of the Cornell University Satellite (CUSat) program in 2006-07 as he earned his M.Eng. degree in aerospace engineering. His first job after college was... Read more about Q&A with MAE Alumni Kris Young of SpaceX
Elaine Petro and Mason Peck didn’t want to start a podcast—they simply wanted to start a kind-of seminar series. It would feature experts on all aspects of spaceflight technology talking about what... Read more about MAE Professors launch Spaceflight Mechanics podcast
Gregory Falco graduated from Cornell with a B.S. in hotel administration in 2010. It is not likely at the time that Falco would have predicted he would be starting as an assistant professor of... Read more about Breaking things to make them stronger
