When observing birds, Santos=Dumont developed systems of controls that involve his entire body, in which, instinctively, he can, in coordinated and reflexive acts, dominate the dynamics of flight – in that sense, we may say that “Santos=Dumont created wearable aircrafts”, paraphrasing Professor Miguel Nicolelis' grandmother Lygia - his handlings were body centric, all controls were mere extensions of Santos=Dumont's body.
In other articles on this blog I described how Santos=Dumont was not only the father of aviation but also the father of biomimetics and the Wiki philosophy, in this article I tell how he may well have been the father of ergonomics, since it is the scientific study of the relationship between man and machine, aiming at safety and efficiency, as well as bionics, as it is the technique of applying knowledge of biology in the solution of engineering and design problems.
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| Santos=Dumont, sewed a wooden "T" device in his jacket from which thin rings connected to the control cables that acted on the "ailerons". Tilting his shoulder to the right, he could command the left aileron, and vice versa, reacting both surfaces, in a coordinated manner, according to the inclination of the aviator's body. |
As different bird species adapted over millions of years through evolution to specific environments, prey, predators and other needs, they developed specializations in their wings and tails in order to acquire different forms of flight.
By observing the flight of birds, one of the most complex forms of locomotion in the animal kingdom, Santos=Dumont created intuitive ways to make the necessary movements, including taking off and landing, tasks that involve many complex movements.
Controls attached to the 14-Bis jacket
Santos=Dumont, still not knowing a good part of how to control a heavier-than-air aircraft, made his first flight with the 14-Bis on September 7, around 5 pm: It reached a height of about 2 m and realized that it should place ailerons in the outer cells of the wing, to control the rotational movements.
The only problem is that all his limbs were occupied with other controls, it was then that he decided to put a piece of wood sewn to the back of his jacket and started to control the screw movement by tilting his body to the left or to the right, as we see in Santos Dumont Book - Helio Paes de Barros – 1973 Ed. Federal University of Pernambuco.
“...Therefore, SANTOS DUMONT had solved the problem of flight in a heavier-than-air device: the "14-Bis... As he had both hands occupied in the various controls of the plane, Santos=Dumont, sewed a wooden "T" device in his jacket from which thin rings connected to the control cables that acted on the "ailerons". Tilting his shoulder to the right, he could command the left aileron, and vice versa, reacting both surfaces, in a coordinated manner, according to the inclination of the aviator's body.
Santos=Dumont had the objective of flying like Icarus, individually, and he evolved the wicker basket in order to fulfill this dream – he did it several times to perfection, mainly with the Balladeuse N.9.
Nowadays it is not uncommon to see such adaptations as expensive American military helmets. One example is the helmet or head-mounted display (HMD) developed by Rockwell Collins Enhanced Vision Systems, a joint venture between Rockwell Collins and Elbit Systems, which costs $400,000, a price that is significantly higher than that of a Ferrari.
* Article published on the G1 News Portal on November 04, 2006 - The man who dressed himself as an airplane, giving wings to the mind
October has arrived and with it the chance to once again celebrate two of the most important achievements in the history of Brazilian science.
In fact, I would say more.
If we could choose a single month that represented the daring and creativity of Brazilian national science, it wouldn't be for anyone. October won by rout!
All because this month we celebrate two of the most famous feats of Alberto Santos-Dumont, the greatest of all our scientists. The one that amazed the French people live, with the precision of his daily flights through the skies of Paris, and fascinated the whole world with the realization of humanity's collective dream of flying.
On the afternoon of dubious weather and treacherous winds on October 19, 1901, Santos-Dumont took off from the Saint-Cloud countryside towards the most imposing symbol of French modernism at the time: the Eiffel Tower. After circling it with elegant and precise maneuvers, Santos-Dumont returned to the take-off point to the delirious applause of the crowd that took to the streets of Paris.
The first great aeronaut demonstrated to anyone who wanted to see that the mixture of daring, tenacity and passion makes us fly.
Literally.
And that is precisely what Santos-Dumont did.
He promised he would fly and he did.
Like no one had ever done.
In just over 30 minutes, there he was. Momentarily back on the ground, a hostile environment for this birdman, he listened to the crowd demanding that he be awarded the first grand prize in aviation: the Deutsch de La Meurthe Prize.
But it was not easy to make history. It never is.
Due to a controversy regarding the precise moment of the race's conclusion, Santos-Dumont and the Parisians had to wait until the beginning of November to celebrate the official decision of the Air Club of France.
And how Paris celebrated! As promised, Santos-Dumont divided the 100,000 francs (plus interest) earned from the prize, half among his mechanics and the rest among 3,950 poor people in Paris.
Five years later, on October 23, 1906, Santos-Dumont once again amazed Parisians by flying 60 meters aboard his legendary 14bis plane.
When I was a boy, and the 23rd of October arrived, the greatest neuroscientist I've ever met, my dear grandmother Lygia, always said to me:
“Today we celebrate the day when man dressed up as an airplane.”
Lygia said this because she knew that, since his first airships, Santos-Dumont had created a complex and efficient system of ropes, pulleys and levers that allowed him to feel and control, as no one had done before, all the main components of each one. of your aircraft. There were so many control instruments that many who inspected these aircraft thought it was impossible for a single man to handle them.
One hundred Octobers later, neuroscience may be able to explain this phenomenon.
Today we know that through a process called neural plasticity (or neuronal, for good measure), multiple areas of the brain that contain complete representations of our body continually change these representations (or maps) throughout our lives. Such alterations occur due to changes that can be commonplace (changes in weight) or more dramatic and rare (amputation of a limb) in the spatial configuration of the body. Most of the time, however, these brain maps change due to constant practice of specialized motor tasks, or as a result of changing habits of tactile exploration of the environment. For example, throughout their lives, pianists and violinists develop brain representations of their fingers that are much larger and more elaborate than most of the population.
Recent results suggest that these brain representations of the body also undergo changes correlated with the type of tool used on a daily basis. For example, due to constant practice, professional tennis players are likely to incorporate their rackets as simple extensions of the brain representations of their arms and hands.
In other words, creation becomes part of the creator.
According to this theory, the more efficient the incorporation of the tool by the brain, the better the dexterity and precision with which the operator would use it.
Thus, it is plausible to postulate that, throughout his aviator career, with the practice of constant flights, Santos-Dumont's brain probably developed the ability to incorporate all the components of his aircraft; stabilizers, wings, tires, as if they were nothing more than part of your own body.
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| From left to right Professor Ricardo Magalhaães, the great-grandnephew of S=D, Professor Miguel Nicolelis. creator of the exoskeleton that allows Juliano Pinto (sitting) to walk after spinal cord injury and Luiz Pagano, writer of this blog. Both professor Nicolelis and patient Juliano sign the handkerchief that belonged to Santos=Dumont - this handkerchief, whichsymbolizes the milestones of Brazilian technological achievements, it already has the signature of Marcos Pontes, the 1st Brazilian astronaut who took it into space aboard the ISS, along with an S=D hat, and the illustration of the 'ALADO HEART OF SANTOS=DUMONT' ' by Romero Brito, an artist who well represents Brazil abroad. |
In this way, through brain plasticity, when climbing on his pegasi made of Japanese silk and piano strings, the slender fellow countryman suddenly became a pioneering giant.
Humanity aeronaut.
Brazilian scientist.
Airplane body.
Brain with wings.
Dona Lygia, who would have thought, was once again right.
Unmissable readings for this more than historic October:
"O que eu vi, o que nós veremos." Alberto Santos-Dumont (French. Ce que j’ai vu, ce que nous verrons) Published by Hedra, São Paulo, 2002.
"Santos-Dumont and the invention of flight". Henrique Lins de Barros. Jorge Zahar Editor, Rio de Janeiro, 2003.
"Wings of Madness". Paul Hoffman. Editora Objetiva, Rio de Janeiro, 2004.
Miguel Nicolelis, for the G1.
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