Flight
Ibn Firnas of Islamic Spain invented, constructed and
tested a flying machine in the 800's A.D. Roger Bacon
learned of flying machines from Arabic references to
Ibn Firnas' machine. The latter's invention antedates
Bacon by 500 years and Da Vinci by some 700 years.
About
875, Abbas Ibn Firnas built a flying apparatus placing
feathers on a wooden frame -- creating the first documented
record of a very primitive glider.
One
of the two surviving versions of his flight states,
"Having constructed the final version of his glider,
to celebrate its success he invited the people of Cordoba
to come and witness his flight. People watched from
a nearby tower as he flew some distance, but then the
glider plummeted to the ground causing him to injure
his back…"
The
second account adds that, after failing to land successfully,
Ibn Firnas claimed that he had not noticed how birds
use their tails to land and that he had forgotten the
tail on his flying apparatus.
The
back injury prevented Ibn Firnas from trying again.
Grounded, he went on to create a mechanized planetarium
with revolving planets that also simulated thunder and
lightning, and evolved a formula for manufacturing artificial
crystals. Soon after in 888 however, he died -- primarily
as a result of an ongoing struggle with his back injury
from the flight.
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