Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President for Academics

Distinguished Lecture Series

Title: Breaking the Surly Bonds of Earth: Humanity and a Century of Flight

Roger D. Launius, Ph.D.
Division of Space History
Smithsonian Institution

December 2, 2003, 7:30 p.m.
Auditorium, Annenberg Presidential Conference Center
Texas A&M University

Abstract

Historians five hundred years hence may well characterize successful human flight, and all that followed in both air and space, as the most significant single technology of the twentieth century. To understand the impact of flight on the century, one must deeply analyze the manner in which the ability to fly has fundamentally altered everyday lives. In that context, the airplane transformed humanity from ground hugging mortals to creatures who will one day roam the universe. As such it had a revolutionary impact. Has it fundamentally reshaped our world, at once awesome and awful in its effect on the human condition? Has it made easy, even luxurious, movement about the globe? At the dawn of the twentieth century, which also had mechanized means of transportation, everyone had to allow multiples of days and sometimes weeks for travel. Jules Verne's character Phileas Fogg of Around the World in Eighty Days was a creature of railroad and steamship timetables that took him throughout the globe with some ease, but certainly on a much longer schedule. As the twenty-first century dawns, when planning a transcontinental or even trans-Atlantic trip, one only has to allow one day for travel. We rightfully scoff at eighty days being required to circle the Earth; after all, anyone can do it in a few hours by airplane and in a few minutes by spacecraft.

This presentation explores the first century of flight from the Wright brothers to the present. It divides the century into five major stages:

Stage 1: Prehistory to the Wright Brothers
Stage 2: Strut and Wire Biplane Era
Stage 3: Propeller-Driven Monoplane Era
Stage 4: Jet Era
Stage 5: Spaceflight Era

Within each of these stages Dr. Launius will discuss the major challenges of flight and show the accomplishments as well as point to possible future issues that humanity will face in the second century of flight.

About the Speaker

Dr. Roger D. Launius is a member of the Division of Space History at the Smithsonian Institutions National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. Between 1990 and 2002 he served as chief historian of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). He holds a bachelors degree in American history from Graceland College in Lamoni, Iowa, and both a masters and a doctorate in American histo from Louisiana State University. After completing his doctorate, Dr. Launius became a civilian staff historian with the United States Air Force. He served in a variety of historian positions with the Air Force, and between 1987 and 1990 was Chief Historian for the Military Airlift Command.

Dr. Launius has lectured widely on historical subjects to military, scholarly, and general audiences. He has also served part-time on the faculties of McKendree College, Weber State University, Graceland College, and Anne Arundel Community College in Maryland. He as acted as a reader for publishers, as a member of governing councils of several historical associations and on the editorial boards of numerous journals. He is an active member of several professional associations, among them the American Astronautical Society, where he is a fellow and the vice president for publications and the editor of Space Times: The Magazine of the American Astronautical Society. He has written or edited numerous books and articles on a variety of historical subjects including the U.S. space program, Joseph Smith, Mormon history, American politics during the Mexican-American War, and the relationship of baseball to American culture.