Comment by brunorsini | Hacker News Reader

Comment by brunorsini | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

There's a movie about his brother, it's been on my watch list for years — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istanbul_Beneath_My_Wings.

The connection between aviation history and nationalism is fascinating. As a dual citizen, it's hilarious to realize how virtually no Brazilians know much about the Wright brothers... while basically no American I ever met has even heard of Santos Dumont, a huge hero in Brazil (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberto_Santos-Dumont).

Needless to say, the same applies to the Russian / American space race. We do know a lot more about the stories on both sides there, but we obviously have a very western-centric view of things. Going to the wonderful Museum of Cosmonautics in Moscow (https://kosmo-museum.ru/?locale=en) really drove this point home.

Similarly, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Hargrave is semi-famous in Australia and had his image on a $20 bill.

I suspect he is not much known outside Australia.

Quote:

Among many, three of Hargrave's inventions were particularly significant:

. study of curved aerofoils, particularly designs with a thicker leading edge;

. the box kite (1893), which greatly improved the lift to drag ratio of early gliders;

. work on the rotary engine, which powered many early flying machines up until about 1920.

> the box kite (1893), which greatly improved the lift to drag ratio of early gliders;

Ah, that Hargrave! In the age of carbon fiber spars and sewing machines, box kites are very popular among amateur kite builders.

This is similar to Traian Vuia[1] in Romania. We were taught in schools that he was the first person to build an airplane.

The contentious issue being what an airplane is: Wright Flyer needed a track and a catapult to take off, but was controllable in fight. The Vuia I could take off by itself, but was not controllable in flight.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traian_Vuia

Around the turn of the century there were many tinkerers all across the world working on the problem of powered flight. Each person's success would be recorded in the local newspaper, and they were generally unaware of each other's work until a few years after the fact.

OR https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Lilienthal

Why is it funny?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com