Flight
Believe it or not but Muslims helped with the invention of flight through the ages.
Many people think that the first person to think of flight was Leonardo da Vinci, but their was a man who actually tested flight 600 years before Leonardo thought about it. Flight is an achievement not thanks to the western philosophers, or the wright brothers alone, but mostly due to the ones who built the foundation for flight. |
Abbas ibn Firnas was an andalusian polymath, physician, poet, astronomer and much more. Abbas ibn Firnas would study birds extensively and learn about how they flew. Abbas ibn Firnas was the first one to build a flying machine and test it. He launched himself off a Masjid (mosque) in Qurtuba (Cordoba), but the flight was not successful, but helped pave the idea for improvement. For the next 30 years he started studying birds closely and how their wings worked. Finally he ended up realizing that it was the shape of the wing that allowed birds to fly. He saw that the wing of the bird was rounded above and hollow below which created the force of lift.
It was again when he realized this, he wanted to attempt flight again. His improved flying machine was made of bamboos, that were tied with silk strips and covered with eagle feathers he then attached a harness and hand grips. He went up a hill and launched himself into history He actually stayed in the air for a period of time and flew to a surprising height before crashed to the ground. He unfortunately ended up breaking the wings and his own back. But he did not give up, he continued his research and came to the conclusion that birds use their tail feathers to control their landing. Sadly Abbas had gotten to old when he realized this he left his discoveries to others.
It was again when he realized this, he wanted to attempt flight again. His improved flying machine was made of bamboos, that were tied with silk strips and covered with eagle feathers he then attached a harness and hand grips. He went up a hill and launched himself into history He actually stayed in the air for a period of time and flew to a surprising height before crashed to the ground. He unfortunately ended up breaking the wings and his own back. But he did not give up, he continued his research and came to the conclusion that birds use their tail feathers to control their landing. Sadly Abbas had gotten to old when he realized this he left his discoveries to others.
Hezarfen Ahmed Çelebi was a polymath during the time of the Ottoman Empire. In 1630 he attempted to fly. He flew a glider across a river about nine times, then he launched himself from the Galata tower in Istanbul and actually flew across the Bosphorus river until he reached the other side. It was a 2 mile flight! He actually flew longer than the wright brother did (which was only 16 seconds) and farther distance. Since the Bosphorus river is the connection between Europe and Asia, he actually flew from one continent to the next.
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Lagâri Hasan Çelebi was an Aviator in the Ottoman empire and was actually Hezarfen's brother. He too had a dream to soar the sky. Three years later Lagâri invented a 7 winged rocket and load it with 300lbs of gunpowder. When he was ready his assistants lit the fuse which allowed him to fly 1000 feet into the air. When his rocket ran out of fuel, Lagâri opened up a pair of wings which worked similar to a parachute allowing him to land safely into the water and letting him swim to shore.
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Bibliography
- Masud ul Hasan. History of Islam. Lahore: Ashfaq Mirza.
- Al-khateeb, Firas. "Lost Islamic HISTORY | Bringing BACK Islamic History." Web. 3 July 2015.