Not long after Trevithic harnessed the steam engine to wheels and thus invented the self propelled locomotive, a Dr Dionysuis Lardner of University College, London declared to universal applause, that “rail speed at high speed is not possible because passengers, unable to breathe, will die of asphyxia.”
Fortunately a bunch of barely educated chaps didn’t understand what asphyxia was and soon we were queuing up to trundle along at forty and fifty miles an hour – and aiming for the ton.
In 1895 an eminent scientist called Lord Kelvin, a much respected President of the Royal Society, assured his fellow scientists – all also pre-eminent in their fields – that “heavier than air flying machines are impossible.”
And proved it by some elegantly worked and indisputable mathematics.
Put that in your pipe and smoke it
While, at much the same time a couple of American bike mechanics who did not subscribe to the Times Of London constructed such a machine and flew it.
When the jet engine appeared, scientists forecast disaster for any attempt to fly faster than the speed of sound.
The resulting shock wave would tear off the wings, burst the fuselage and explode the brain cells of the unfortunate pilot, they declared. Not to mention the wholesale destruction of buildings along the frightful flight path.
This time they were partly right at least. Some window panes did get cracked, some chimney pots in dire need of re-pointing did tumble.
Which is why aircraft now are not permitted to exceed the speed of sound until over the sea. Where no ships have been reported sunk as a result.
The end of the world is nigh
When news of the impending test of the first atomic bomb appeared, lots of them forecast a chain reaction that would rid the world of its atmosphere, and thereby of all living beings. Fortunately or unfortunately, they were wrong about that too.
Return of the invisible man?
Our scientific betters are currently getting excited over what they claim are the very real possibilities of invisibility cloaking, time travel and transportation across space.
The minute they produce, with appropriately complicated diagrams and some impressively dense mathematics, that such is not, after all possible; – then and only then – will I start expecting blokes to pop up out of nowhere asking what day is it and where are they.
And as more and more of them start to assure me that, either climate warming is a myth, or that it is a natural phenomenon and nothing much to worry about, that’s when I begin to fret.
Image: izzie_whizzie under CC BY 2.0
