VOLVO + DIMETHYL ETHER
ONE OF the most promising sustainable fuels is appearing first in heavy trucks. Volvo believes it has found a winner in DME, dimethyl ether. Among DME benefits are simple conversion … Continue reading
SCIENCE WITH OPEN ACCESS
THE OCTOBER 4, 2013, issue of Science magazine, published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, has a Special Section on Communication in Science. There are aspects galore, … Continue reading
DUNNE FLYING WINGS
WE’D CALL them “flying wings,” but the first of their type were termed “tailless aeroplanes.” British Lieutenant John William Dunne, ex-His Majesty’s Wiltshire Regiment, experimented with a tailless glider in … Continue reading
ESCAPE FROM THE AMAZON!
SERENDIPITY SEEMS to occur whenever I search for a particular book—and find another that I completely forgot I had. So it is with the wonderful humor of Alex Atkinson and … Continue reading
IMERO FIORENTINO, EXPERT OF LIGHT
WHEN I was in high school, my ambition was to design theater set lighting. Then someone told me that perhaps six people in the entire world specialized in this and … Continue reading
HARRY A. FRANCK: PRINCE OF VAGABONDS
IF ANYONE ever earned the title “Prince of Vagabonds,” it was Harry A. Franck. A trip around the world sans cash? Sure. Through Germany immediately after World War I? Yep. … Continue reading
LANCIA LAMBDA
INDEPENDENT FRONT suspension, a stressed steel unitary chassis, a single overhead camshaft, light-alloy narrow-angle V-4 layout—all in 1922. The car was the Italian Lancia Lambda, built between 1922 and 1931. … Continue reading
VERDI, HITLER & GODWIN
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Joe Greens! In fact, October 10, 2013 is a very special birthday—the 200th of Italian opera composer Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi. Verdi is renowned for such famous operas … Continue reading
RENÉ COUZINET, AIRCRAFT DESIGNER
FRENCH AIRCRAFT designer René Couzinet was only 23 when, in 1928, he devised a three-engine low-wing monoplane specifically for transatlantic mail service. The effort was an early example of crowd-funding, … Continue reading
JEAN MERMOZ, AVIATOR
FRENCHMAN JEAN Mermoz was an extraordinary aviator in an extraordinary era of aviation. His flights crossing the South Atlantic and later the Andes were the first of their kind. Mermoz … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 