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Article: Ornithopters take flight Saturday
- Article from:
- Deseret News (Salt Lake City)
- Article date:
- May 19, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2006 Deseret News (Salt Lake City). Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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PROVO -- "The Da Vinci Code" finally opens in theaters today, but
another da Vinci-related drama will be on display Saturday only in
Saratoga Springs.
More than 500 years ago, Leonardo da Vinci conducted the first
serious study of bird flight and proposed an ornithopter, an aircraft
powered by flapping wings.
Da Vinci's drawings called for a huge machine designed to support
a man who would work the wings using a system of pulleys. Unless Dan
Brown, author of "The Da Vinci Code," knows something the rest of us
don't, it's impossible to know exactly what da Vinci would think of
the miniature, radio-controlled ornithopters built by students at
Brigham Young University and the University of Utah.