PAUL MACCREADY
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Paul D. MacCready, Ph.D.
Engineering Environmental Transportation (Engineer of the Century)
For centuries humans have dreamed of flying on their own power. After the achievement of heavier-than-air flight at the beginning of the 20th century, most inventors and dreamers abandoned the idea of human-powered flight. Many dismissed it as impossible. One who did not was Paul MacCready. After half a lifetime of experimentation with gliders, MacCready answered a challenge issued by the Kremer Prize committee to produce a human-powered flying machine.
The human-powered Gossamer Condor is only the most famous of Paul MacCready's innovative air and land vehicles. His Gossamer Penguin and Solar Challenger were the first successful solar-powered aircraft. MacCready also drew on the energy of the sun to power a high-performance automobile, the Sunraycer. MacCready has joined a lifelong interest in aviation with a mature passion for developing environmentally sound transportation technology. In addition to his experiments with solar power, MacCready's firm Aerovironment has developed efficient battery-powered vehicles, such as the Impact sports car for General Motors.
Topic: Doing More With Less: Especially Decreasing CO2
Ten thousand years ago, when civilization started, humans + livestock + pets were a negligible part of the globe's vertebrate mass on land and in the air. Now they represent 98% of the vertebrate mass, and natural creatures have decreased to 2%. Population growth and natural resource consumption are not sustainable. Of the many challenges, the consumption of oil, natural gas, and coal, and associated CO2 release, is a big issue. Unfortunately civilization is incapable of genuine solutions, although technologies exist. We would be wise to get youngsters to contemplate events likely in 2050, 2100, etc.
Email: maccready at aerovirment dot com
