Anthony B. Wight
A
Reflections on the flight of Daedalus and Icarus
One of the most famous depictions of the flight of Daedalus is the painting “Landscape with the Fall of Icarus’’ by Pieter Brueghel, located in the Brussels Museum. A print of this painting should be placed in the classroom for students to observe and contemplate while reading the poems by William Carlos Williams and W.H. Auden which it inspired. {The Institute resource materials for this course will include a 35 mm slide of the painting.}
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1. “Landscape with the fall of Icarus’’
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According to Brueghel
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sweating in the sun
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when Icarus fell
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that melted
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it was spring
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the wing’s wax
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a farmer was ploughing
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unsignificantly
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his field
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off the coast
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the whole pagentry
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there was
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of the year was
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a splash quite unnoticed
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awake tingling
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this was
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near
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Icarus drowning
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the edge of the sea
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concerned
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with itself
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—William Carlos Williams, 1962
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2. “Musee des Beaux Arts’’
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About suffering they were never wrong,
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The Old Masters: how well they understood
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Its human position; how it takes place
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While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking
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dully along;
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How, when the aged are reverently, passionately waiting
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For the miraculous birth, there always must be
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Children who did not specifically want it to happen, skating
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On a pond at the edge of the wood:
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They never forgot
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That even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course
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Anyhow in a corner, some intidy spot
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Where the dogs go on with their doggy life and the torturer’s horse
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Scratches its innocent behind on a tree.
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In Breughel’s
Icarus
, for instance: how everything turns away
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Quite leisurely from the disaster; the plowman may
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Have heard the splash, the forsaken cry,
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But for him it was not an important failure; the sun shone
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As it had to on the white legs disappearing into the green
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Water; and the expensive delicate ship that must have seen
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Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky,
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Had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on.
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—W.H. Auden, 1938
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3. In the Brueghel painting the central figure is a peasant plowing, and several other figures are more immediately noticeable than Icarus who, disappearing into the sea, is easy to miss in the lower right-hand corner. Equally ignored by the figures is a dead body in the woods.
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Students should examine the painting carefully for details and understanding of the artist’s perspective. After reading the two poems aloud at least twice as a group, the following questions should be raised in discussions:
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a. Who are Daedalus and Icarus? Where are they going in the painting? Why?
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b. Why did Icarus fall?
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c. In Williams’ interpretation of the Brueghel painting, what possible importance does he attach to the fact that “It was spring’’?
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d. Brueghel is one of “The Old Masters’’ of whom Auden speaks in line 2 of his poem. What is it that the wise artist tells about human suffering?
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e. Both Auden and Williams comment that in the painting Icarus’ drowning seems to go unnoted by other figures in the scene. What clues does each poet offer about why this may be so?
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4. Written Assignment: Compose your own response to the Brueghel painting in the form of a poem, story or brief essay. (Written assignment could be an overnight task with student works to be read aloud the next day.)
B.
A Chronology of the Daedalus Odyssey
Rationale
: Class construction of a chronology of the Daedalus Odyssey will be helpful for students from several standpoints:
First it should give an overview of the nearly 6,000 years of time under consideration.
Second, it may help reveal the subtle shifts from myth to legend to historical fact in the evolution of a particular technology (flight).
Third, it will readily be obvious that there are overlapping phases or ages in the evolution of human flight—in particular, both heavier-than-air and lighter-than-air developments were intertwined as the nature of air, the atmosphere, airflow, physical forces became more understood.
Procedure
: A large chart should be posted on the wall with a timeline stretching from 3500B.C. to 1988A.D. Using references listed in the bibliography, encyclopedias, dictionaries and other sources, students should research and label on the timeline key events, people, inventions and achievements. Each student should write a brief description on a 3x5 file card and attach this to the timeline in the appropriate position. Teacher should provide models for the reports by presenting the timeline endcards for Daedalus Myth and Daedalus II flight.
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Date: 3500B.C. (approximated)
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Person: Daedalus, Greek craftsman and inventor
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Event: Mythical flight by Daedalus from Crete using wax and feathers to make bird-like wings
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Importance: First known mention of the idea of humanflight. Heroic vision of art and science combining to produce technology to expand human powers.
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Date: April 23, 1986
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Person: Kanellos Kanellopoulos, Greek cyclist
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Event: 74-mile pedal-powered flight from Crete to Greek Island of Santorini in the “Daedalus 88’’ aircraft designed at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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Importance: Successful enactment of the mythical Daedalus flight. Set 3 records for human-powered flight: longest, straight line flight, duration aloft (3 hrs, 54 min.), longest total distance (74 mil.)
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Student topics should include: Icarus, King Bladud, Mo Ti Tzu, Archytas, Oliver of Malmesburg, tseung Kung Liang, Roger Bacon, Marco Polo, Leonardo da Vinci, Francesco de Lana, Giovanni Borelli, Joseph Montgolfier, Sir George Cayley, Henri Giffard, Henry Cavendish, T.S.C. Lowe, Otto Lilienthal, Samuel Langley, Orville and Wilbur Wright, the Peuguot Prize, Henry Kremer, Paul MacCready, Alan Tremml.
C. Personal Human-Power Factors
Objectives
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1. To calculate horsepower developed during a specific physical activity
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2. To propose ways to minimize the amount of work necessary to operate a bicycle and
Daedalus 88
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Materials A bicycle, stop watch, scale, protractor, 100-ft tape measure, trigonometric tables.
Procedures
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1. Pilots on
Daedalus 88
must develop and sustain 0.25 horsepower during the flight of the craft. In terms of a student’s own experience, what does such an effort mean?
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2. Power is the “rate of doing work’’ or, Power=work/time. But work (W) equals force (F) applied times distance (D) moved, or W=FxD. Horsepower is one unit of power which is equivalent to 550 foot-pounds (work) per second.
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3. Based on the above, the power required to raise a particular weight a given distance is:
Power=weight x distance traveled/time (P=WD/t)
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Horsepower can be determined by dividing the result of this equation by 550 foot-pounds per second.
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Example 1
: A student with a box of books totals 180 pounds. If the student carries the books up three flights of stairs (30 vertical feet) in 30 seconds, his horsepower can be calculated as:
P = 180 lb x 30 ft / 30 sec = 180 ft-lb/sec = (180 ft-lb/sec) / (550 ft-lb/sec) = 0.33 Horsepower
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Example 2
: A cyclist and a bicycle weigh 200 pounds, the vertical distance traveled is 40 feet and the elapsed time of the ride is 60 seconds. Horsepower will be calculated as:
P=200 lbx40 ft/60 sec=133 ft-lb/sec =(133 ft-lb/sec)/(550 ft-lb/sec)= 0.24 Horsepower
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4. Using either the stairs method or the bicycle method (have the rider go up a fairly long hill for which you can determine vertical rise by trigonometric methods), weigh,time and calculate your personal human-power rating. If available, enter your class data on a computer and generate a graph of the human-power profile of your class.
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5. Try the experiment with cyclists who are in better or poorer physical shape. If student(s) are interested, have one or more try repeated runs and record data for sustained horsepower output.
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6. Determine how training affects the output of horsepower. Speculate on factors that might limit the amount of power a person can develop/sustain. How might limiting factors be overcome. Relate class discussion to the Daedalus Project.
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7. “Flight Check’’: Have students write a scientific paper summarizing their findings and conclusions.
