Dear Julian,
I strongly suggest that you take a close look at the cover of the May 20th
issue of the NewYorker magazine. This should convince you that there is a
very solid basis for the "story".
Kalman
-----Original Message-----
From: Engineers and biologists mechanical design list
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Julian Vincent
Sent: Thursday, May 16, 2013 3:52 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Ghosties
I deny that it ever happened! There is little evidence to support the
story, and evidence that Newton (or someone) invented it (or mis-reported
it) at a later date! I shall endeavour to get chapter and verse . . .
Julian
On 16 May 2013, at 13:47, Kalman wrote:
> I address your request with great gravity. And I gotta repeat myself.
> Isaac Newton was sitting under a tree. An apple fell down onto his head.
> He said "Ouch!" And then the greatest biomimetic epiphany of all
> times occurred. If apples behave this way . . . . The rest is history.
> Are you denying that this is a true example of biomimetics?
> Kalman Schulgasser
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Engineers and biologists mechanical design list
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Julian Vincent
> Sent: Thursday, May 16, 2013 3:16 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Ghosties
>
> There are quite a few stories which do the rounds regularly of systems
> which purport to be derived biomimetically and are nothing of the
> sort. I have researched some of these, since it seems to me that it's
> important to sort out how ideas can profitably be moved from biology
> to technology, and counter-examples might be useful as examples of
> bad science, wishful thinking, post hoc propter hoc, etc.
>
> The ones I know of are:
>
> **Roof of the Crystal Palace: The corrugated roof was invented in
> 1810 or earlier by John Claudius Loudon, an inventive
> horticulturalist, some 40 years before the Crystal Palace was designed
> and (as far as I can tell) before people in the UK had come across the
> floating leaves of the lily, Amazonica.. The corrugated roof bears no
> relation to the leaves of lily, but the half-round arch which tops the
> Crystal Palace (not present in the original drawings) is very
> reminiscent of the leaf in its design. There may be a connection there.
A result of lax reportage by the Press?
> **Eiffel Tower: This was the first structure to be designed according
> to wind loadings. Its hierarchical strutted structure is probably a
> result of limited access to the site. The Tower is nothing to do with
> the structure of bones, tulip stems, or anything else biological.
> **Sydney Opera House: Nothing whatsoever to do with shells. It's a
> shell structure, but that's a technical description. Nothing in the
> original accounts of its design or structure says anything about a
biomimetic origin.
> **Polar Bear light guides: The bear's hair does not function as a
> light guide (shown experimentally) although light guides arranged in
> the same way can have useful properties.
> **Eastgate Centre, Harare: Doesn't work like a termite mound
> (technically as a stack - chimney - which can draw air through the
> system) because termite mounds don't work like that! The building was
> designed before people understood how the nest's gas exchange system
> really works (it seems to be more like our lungs, semi-tidal and not
> mixing very much). And people ignore that insects can cope with a
> wide range of CO2 in the air surrounding them.
>
> Any more to add to this hit list (there must be!)?
> How do we rectify these fairy tales?
>
> Julian Vincent
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