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John D. North
( - )
British aeronautical engineer who began designing aircraft when he joined the Grahame-White Aviation Company in 1913, and shortly thereafter became chief engineer of Boulton Paul Aircraft, Ltd. He held several patents, and designed the Defiant fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force in WW II.
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Science Quotes by John D. North (1 quote)
Aeroplanes are not designed by science, but by art in spite of some pretence and humbug to the contrary. I do not mean to suggest that engineering can do without science, on the contrary, it stands on scientific foundations, but there is a big gap between scientific research and the engineering product which has to be bridged by the art of the engineer.
— John D. North
In John D. North, 'The Case for Metal Construction', The Journal of the Royal Aeronautical Society, (Jan 1923), 27, 11.
In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion.
(1987) -- 
