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I think what I illustrated was a more specific thing. Santos-Dumont thought he invented the airplane because not many had knowledge of what the Wright Brothers
by anderber 6y ago
I think what I illustrated was a more specific thing. Santos-Dumont thought he invented the airplane because not many had knowledge of what the Wright Brothers did. So this is a unique situation where 2 different people did invent at around the same time. Not to take anything away from the Brothers, they were first and deserve to be known.
- ceejayoz 6y agoI mean, sorta. In 1906 he was claiming the Wrights were lying about their ability to fly 30 miles. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/12816410 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/12816410
- Stupulous 6y agoI don't doubt you're already aware, but for context: Surprisingly, this is not a unique phenomenon. Calculus, evolution, magnetism, the telegraph, and the lightbulb, among very many[1] others, all were discovered or invented at the same time independently. It isn't the rule, but it's definitely significant enough that single inventors aren't the rule either. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_multiple_discoveries https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_multiple_discoveries
- bbarnett 6y agoPlus, how did one find anything out? Even when telegraph, the phone, and wireless first existed, how would you transmit thousands upon thousands of scientific papers? News? And who would pay the incredible cost of doing so? Imagine transcribing by hand, via Morris code, or reading/writing, via phone? How would Bob in Asia, know what Tom in the UK was working on? Even mail often did not exist reliably. Some stuff could be shipped, sure, but it isn't as if sail was speedy. People have been in the dark for most of history.