Lessons from the Wright Brothers
- The Arrival point of the first flight
The flight started here.
- The first successful flying machine.
This is only a reproduction stored in the museum. This is
a photo of the real thing.
- The sewing machine the Wright brothers
used to fix the wings of their flying machine.
- Kitty Hawk Beach. This beach still an
isolated place. This is the reason why the word "Kitty Hawk" is
associated with an aircraft carrier of the U.S. Navy.
- Shanty. The Wright brothers lived in
a shanty near the flying field. This was their kitchen.
This was their dining table.
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Biography, linked from wright-house.com.
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Wright Brothers Memorial Park , Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, U.S.A.
- Lesson 1. The flying machine of the Wright brothers consists
mostly of the wings. It has a small engine and two propellers.
The Wright brothers were not the only ones to build airplanes,
but all others were interested in building strong engines, and
their machines could not fly. The Wright brothers were interested
in building a machine which can adjust itself to changing wind
conditions. The Kitty Hawk beach provided ideal wind conditions
to them. This is a good lesson to every talented individual
like yourself. You are strong only if your strength is
consistent with the time-dependent environment.
- Lesson 2. The right brothers carried out their research
and development without financial supports from others. They
earned their research money by running a bicycle shop in
their home town, Dayton, Ohio.
In modern language, they carried out their research without federal grant. Indeed, the United States is a free country. Scientists have the freedom of doing research without outside support, but, this freedom is seldom practiced.
Let us look at this photo. This is a machine Richard Feynman built when he was a teenager, presumably without government support. Indeed, Feynman did not believe in doing research while being paid by others. He was a freedom-loving physicist. Many people attempted to imitate Feynman, but this aspect of freedom-loving is most difficult to imitate.
Yet, it is possible in the United States. I know at least one person who runs an active research program without government support, like Feynman. If you are interested, I will be very happy to introduce him to you. In the meantime, I am developing a conference program called "Feynman Festival" without government grants. I ran the first meeting last year (2002) without any outside supports, and it worked. The major advantage of this format is that you are not overshadowed by those big shots. I intend to run the second meeting next year (2004) again without grants. I only need your ideas and enthusiasm. Please contact me if you have them. You will occupy a good seat at the forthcoming Feynman Festival.
How about imitating Feynman's physics? It is also fun. Like all young researchers, I went through a difficult period of finding out myself. In my case, Feynman was the savior. Please click here to see how it happened.
copyright@2003 by Y. S. Kim, unless otherwise specified.
