Albert Francis Zahm (1862–1954) was an early aeronautical experimenter, a professor of physics, and a chief of the Aeronautical Division of the U.S.

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

. He testified as an aeronautical expert in the 1910–14 lawsuits between the Wright brothers and

Glenn Curtiss Glenn Hammond Curtiss (May 21, 1878 – July 23, 1930) was an American aviation and motorcycling pioneer, and a founder of the U.S. aircraft industry. He began his career as a bicycle racer and builder before moving on to motorcycles. As early a ...

Time line of early life and work in aeronautics

* Received A.B.,

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic university, Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend, Indiana, South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin fo ...

, Indiana, 1883, A.M., 1885, M.S. 1890; M.E.

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

, 1892; Ph.D.,

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consi ...

, 1898. Albert's brother

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

was on the Notre Dame faculty while Albert was a student there. * Professor of Mathematics, University of Notre Dame 1885-1889, mathematics and mechanics, 1890-1892. * Zahm suggested to

Octave Chanute Octave Chanute (February 18, 1832 – November 23, 1910) was a French-American civil engineer and aviation pioneer. He provided many budding enthusiasts, including the Wright brothers, with help and advice, and helped to publicize their flying ...

to stage an International Conferences on Aerial Navigation in 1893. Zahm acted as Secretary, with Chanute as Chair. * He was a professor of mechanics (physics) at

The Catholic University of America The Catholic University of America (CUA) is a private Roman Catholic research university in Washington, D.C. It is a pontifical university of the Catholic Church in the United States and the only institution of higher education founded by U.S. ...

, from 1895 apparently until 1913-1914 (but one source says only till 1908). * In 1901, as part of a pioneering aeronautical laboratory, Zahm built a wind tunnel with financing from Hugo Mattullah. It operated until 1908."Who invented the wind tunnel?" at centennialofflight.net
/ref> It has been described as "America's first significant wind tunnel." * He joined the

Aero Club of America The Aero Club of America was a social club formed in 1905 by Charles Jasper Glidden and Augustus Post, among others, to promote aviation in America. It was the parent organization of numerous state chapters, the first being the Aero Club of New ...

shortly after it was founded, in 1905. * Zahm's 1911 book ''Aerial Navigation'' described the historical development of experimental aircraft that led to functional airplanes.

Testimony in Wrights vs. Curtiss

Zahm testified as an aeronautical expert in the 1910-1913 patent lawsuits by the Wright brothers who alleged patent infringement against inventor and manufacturer

. His testimony took over a month. He testified on behalf of the Curtiss after declining to testify for the Wrights, possibly because the Wrights refused to pay Zahm to appear as an expert witness whereas the Curtiss interests did. Zahm had been on friendly terms with both sides previously but became a long term adversary of the Wrights during and after the trial.Head, 2008 He worked closely with Glenn Curtiss on the controversial 1914 flying tests of the (substantially rebuilt and modified)

Langley Aerodrome The Langley Aerodrome was a pioneering but unsuccessful manned, tandem wing-configuration powered flying machine, designed at the close of the 19th century by Smithsonian Institution Secretary Samuel Langley. The U.S. Army paid $50,000 for the p ...

in an attempt to show that Langley's machine had been capable of powered flight with a man aboard before the Wrights' glider was. Zahm testified that earlier experimental gliders and glider designs and publications, before those of the Wrights, had included a variety of monoplane and biplane designs, with horizontal and vertical rudders, and steering concepts of

ailerons An aileron (French for "little wing" or "fin") is a hinged flight control surface usually forming part of the trailing edge of each wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. Ailerons are used in pairs to control the aircraft in roll (or movement around ...

and wing warping. There were complex technical issues, notably whether Curtiss's airplanes used a vertical rudder and ailerons in ways that closely matched the patented design of the Wrights. Experts testified on both sides and sometimes contradicted one another on matters of fact. In the end judge John R. Hazel ruled in Feb. 1913 for the Wrights, and on appeal a higher court agreed with this decision in 1914.

Later years

Zahm became the chief research engineer of

Curtiss Aeroplane Company Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company (1909 – 1929) was an American aircraft manufacturer originally founded by Glenn Hammond Curtiss and Augustus Moore Herring in Hammondsport, New York. After significant commercial success in its first decades ...

in 1914-1915 and then the director of the U.S. Navy's Aerodynamical Laboratory, 1916-1929. Zahm became the chief of the Aeronautical Division at the

from 1929 or 1930 until 1946, and held the Guggenheim Chair of Aeronautics there. Zahm died in 1954, and was buried in the Community Cemetery, Notre Dame, Indiana.

Honors

* Zahm was invited to be a member of the

Cosmos Club The Cosmos Club is a 501(c)(7) private social club in Washington, D.C. that was founded by John Wesley Powell in 1878 as a gentlemen's club for those interested in science. Among its stated goals is, "The advancement of its members in science, ...

of Washington, DC, and received his mail there while on the faculty of Catholic University. * Recipient of Laetare medal at University of Notre Dame, 1925. * Awarded the Mendel Medal at Villanova College in 1930 for his pioneering work in scientific aeronautics. * Daniel Guggenheim Chair of Aeronautics in the Library of Congress, 1929-1946.

Publications, bibliography and archival information

More than 100 of his articles and papers were collected in ''Aeronautical papers 1885-1945 of Albert F. Zahm'', volumes I and II. He wrote the book ''Aerial Navigation'' (1911), and a booklet called ''Early Powerplane Fathers''. His papers are kept by the University of Notre Dame.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zahm, Albert Francis 1954 deaths Cornell University College of Engineering alumni Catholic University of America faculty Johns Hopkins University faculty University of Notre Dame faculty University of Notre Dame alumni Gliding in the United States Aerodynamicists Wright brothers Aviation pioneers Aviation inventors 1862 births Laetare Medal recipients