The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1908-11-13
BACHELOR OF FLYING, NOW
SKY PILOTS TO Be GRADUATED
FROM COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY"
So Far the Course Has Only One Student, Xb
Has the Faculty Of Aerial Navigation All
to Himseli--But Some Day There
Nay Be Rush Of Under
graduates 10 Elect.
Observation-Disclosures.

course in aeronautics-the frs
OF its kind TO be given in an American
university-is the latest addition tc
Columbia's curriculum. Although
only one student on Morningside
Heights is at present engaged in stu.
dying the new science OF the air
opinion was confidently expressed
among members OF the teaching stan
to-day that in the near future there
would be many others anxious to take
up work along this line. The ulti.
mate establishment of a school for
aeronauts, il was said. was receiving
serious consideration
Grover Cleveland Looming, a stu.
dent who received his A. B. from Col
umbia last June, is the first TO make
study of airsLips in the laborator-
les He returned TO the university
this Call for graduate work, declaring
that he intended to take up the sub
iect of aerial navigation along scien-
tic lines.
According TO members of the de-
partment Of physics Looming ap-
peared to have theories on the SUBJ
iect which they thought were worth
developing, and a course was conse-
quently arranged for him.
Under the supervision of DR.. Chas.
c. Trowbridge, of the physics depart.
ment. who has spent much time in
investigating the matter Of bird
fight. Looming has begun his work
90 "a Of nf ~ IN
aeronautics. For the first half of the
year he will devote himself to the
historical side of the subject, collect
ing all the important matter bearing
upon airships that has been written
thus far. He will then turn to orig
inal research in the Phoenix labora-
tory, where he intends to use models
OF airships for experimental purposes.
Loenings thesis will deal with
"Automatic Stability of Airships."
and it will be along this line that he
expects TO specialize. His theory. so
far as he is willing TO discuss it, is
that one OF the great problems con-
fronting the aeronaut to-day is to in
vent a device that will warp the
planes automatically; that is. without
the aid Of levers, controlled by the
operator.
Looming will not give his attention
TO the dirigible balloon. but solely to
types Of heavier-than-air machines.
Professor William Hallock, dean OF
the faculty of pure science, under
with instruction in aeronautics is
given, said to-day that there was a
great field for further Investigations
of this nature, and declared that the
university was likely to establish a
course for those who intended to fol-
low up the subject. Professor Hal
lock said he had long been anxious to
induce the trustees to purchase a
tract Of land on Long Island where
practical experiments with airships
and other scientific devices could be
carried on.
Such work as is being done here
he continued. is of great value to
! the science of aerial navigation.
Experiments in the laboratory
may be the means of discovering a
short cut to many useful improve
ments in airship building. The art,
| you might say, has only reached a
/ point where naval architecture would
be if it had just succeeded in produc-
ing a steel vessel that could float
Many problems of the airship have
! not been touched on yet. The won
ders that the Wright brothers have
! been able to accomplish are largely
| the result Of experiment, and often
| failure. Their machine, marvellous
/ as It is, is as far from perfection as,
| for instance, the first electric genera
! tor that Edison constructed many
! years ago. ! believe the aeronaut
has much TO learn from the yachts
man about currents of the air. Most
airships, for instance, have employed
! nat surfaces for their planes-or at
any rate very nearly fiat surfaces
whereas every yachtsman knows ths
! advantage to be derived from
curved sail
Professor Hallock was asked
whether he thought Columbia would
establish a school for aeronauts even
tually.
Il would be not at all surprised"
I he replied. Our first need, of course,
would be a farm OF some kind with
plenty of open space for test flights.
In fact, many experiments that We
should like to undertake in other
lines could be made to more advan-
tage out OF town. | have long advo-
Gated the purchase by the university
of some tract on Long Island for this
purpose. II will be absolutely neces-
sary IL we are to take up aeronautics
on large scale"
Looming will probably conduct his
experiments with airship models
somewhere outside of the city.-New
York Evening Post.