Abstract
AFTER expressing his admiration for the character of Wilbur Wright, his brilliant engineering work, and the scientific method by which he obtained his results, the lecturer considered the resemblance and differences of the manufactured aeroplane and the living bird. The resemblance may be simply the result of copying the bird, or it may be that similar designs have been arrived at independently by birds and men. The wings of both are roughly the same shape: of wide span, and narrow in the direction in which the bird flies; both have concave wings with thick leading edges. In many aeroplanes hollow spars are used like bones and like the quills of the feathers of birds. We copy plants also in this respect, for they too have learnt the economy of material in the use of hollow spars.
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Design and Use of Scientific Instruments in Aeronautics 1 . Nature 91, 410–412 (1913). https://doi.org/10.1038/091410a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/091410a0