HISTORY

Engineers have always experimented on their way to creating various products. For example, Leonardo da Vinci, starting in 1483, spent a considerable amount of time and effort trying to prove the efficacy of human flight. His efforts included the design of two distinct devices for measuring wing lift. One of them was a balance mechanism [1], while the other is shown in figure 1 [2]. Figure 1. A device for measuring wing lift, designed by Leonardo da Vinci [2]. In 1804, Sir George Cayley, considered by many the inventor of the airplane, also designed and built experiments to study wing aerodynamics. Figure 2 shows a whirling-arm apparatus powered by a weighted cord dropped over a pulley and down a stairwell, that he used to measure the lift of various airfoils [3]. This quick overview of experimentation in engineering – an