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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 July 2015
John Anderson's book, A History of Aerodynamics and Its Impact on Flying Machines, represents a milestone in aviation literature. For the first time aviation enthusiasts – both specialists and popular readers alike – possess an authoritative history of aerodynamic theory. Not only is this study authoritative, it is also highly readable and linked to the actual (and more familiar) story of how the airplane evolved. Countless books exist on famous aviators, historic aircraft, air transportation, and the impact of air power on modern warfare; few books, however, touch upon how baseline theoretical work on aerodynamic theory made modern flying machines possible. A professor of aerospace engineering, John Anderson brings this complex story to life.
The dream of flight is indeed an ancient dream – one that is manifest in myth, in art, and in the earliest records of civilization. John Anderson begins with Aristotle and Archimedes, and then traces how this dream became transformed into a rudimentary science through the inspired work of Leonardo da Vinci, around 1500. The heirs of Leonardo da Vinci – George Cayley, Otto Lilienthal, Samuel Langley, and the Wright brothers – carried on, each establishing important benchmarks in the theory of aerodynamics. When the Wrights flew at Kitty Hawk on December 17, 1903, they inaugurated the modern air age, having demonstrated that a practical means of powered human flight had been achieved. The rapid advance of aeronautical design after the Wrights is remarkable; in fact, this story is one of the most compelling chapters in the history of technology. The saga of modern aerodynamics is told here for the first time in a comprehensive way. John Anderson links the theory of aerodynamics to the developmental history of flying machines. He touches on all the major theorists and their contributions and, most important, the historical context in which they worked to move the science of aerodynamics forward.
Dr. Anderson's historical reconstruction is fascinating and, from the standpoint of current aeronautical literature, an important new avenue for us to understand the history of human flight.
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