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SUMMARY:Rival theories of the aerofoil: 1909-1926 - David Bloor (Universit
 y of Edinburgh)
DTSTART:20080207T163000Z
DTEND:20080207T180000Z
UID:TALK9562@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Lauren Kassell
DESCRIPTION:From the early years of aviation through World War One\, until
  c. 1926\, British and German experts in aerodynamics disagreed about how 
 an aircraft wing generates lift. The British developed the discontinuity t
 heory\, the Germans the circulation theory. I shall describe the course of
  this divergence and seek to explain it in terms of differing mathematical
  traditions and their respective institutional roots. It emerges that the 
 more successful theory was based on the least realistic physics. Welcome t
 o relativism at 30\,000 feet!
LOCATION:Seminar Room 2\, History and Philosophy of Science\, Department o
 f
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