Category Archives: Mad Inventors

Mad Scientist #10: Otto Lilienthal

Posted on November 7, 2011 by Max Hartshorn

History books, Smithsonian tour guides, and commemorative North Carolina state quarters would have us believe that the Wright Brothers invented the airplane. Sure, they managed to launch the first manned, powered, controlled heavier-than-air flight, an improbable feat in its own … Continue reading →

Posted in Mad Aeronauts, Mad Inventors | Leave a comment

Mad Scientist #7: Joseph Faber

Posted on January 13, 2011 by Max Hartshorn

13th century Friar Albertus Magnus is said to have spent upwards of three decades engineering a mechanical head that could move and speak. So terrifying was his creation that Thomas Aquinas smashed it on first sight.1 It would take another … Continue reading →

Posted in Mad Inventors, Steampunk | 1 Comment