Engines and Innovation

When Francis Bacon Wrote The New Atlantis In The Early 17Th Century, He Envisioned A Statesupported Research Institution In Which Knowledge Could Be Applied To "Enlarge The Bounds Of Human Empire, To The Effecting Of All Things Possible." 1 Among The Research Facilities To Increase The Protection And Material Comforts Of The Inhabitants Of His Imaginary Island, Bacon Imagined An Engine House To Study All Types Of Motion, Including Flight. National Aeronautical Research Laboratories In Europe And The United States In The Early 20Th Century Reflected Bacon'S Vision Of Science Applied To The Practical Problems Of Flight. Commitment To Innovation Accompanied Bacon'S Belief In Progress. His Utopia Honored Inventors, Not Politicians Or Academics. In 1941 The Same Commitment To Innovation And Industrial Progress Won Federal Funding For A Laboratory In Cleveland, Ohio. Local And National Leaders Expected The New Laboratory To Promote Innovations In Aircraft Engine Technology To Help Win The War Against Germany. Contributions To The Development Of Superior Engines For Military And Passenger Aircraft After World War Ii Justified The Large Federal Investment In Research Facilities And Personnel. Today This Laboratory Is The Nasa Lewis Research Center. In Contrast To The Isolation Of The Ideal Research Institution Of Bacon'S Vision, Lewis Took Shape In A Flesh-And-Blood World Of Personalities, National Security Concerns, And Postwar Capitalism