Antoine Magnan

Antoine Magnan (French pronunciation: [ɑ̃twan maɲɑ̃]; 13 June 1881 – 5 March 1938)[1] was a French zoologist and aeronautical engineer who studied the flight of insects and birds for possible lessons to apply to powered flight.

Magnan was born in the central 7th arrondissement of Paris on 13 June 1881.

[1] He qualified as a doctor of medicine and of science, and received the diploma of superior studies in zoology.

He became a professor of animal mechanics applied to aviation at the Collège de France (from 1929 to 1938),[2] and the director of the experimental morphology laboratory and the aviation laboratory at the École pratique des hautes études in Paris.

[1] The following passage appears in the introduction to Le Vol des Insectes:[3] Tout d'abord poussé par ce qui se fait en aviation, j'ai appliqué aux insectes les lois de la résistance de l'air, et je suis arrivé avec M. Sainte-Laguë à cette conclusion que leur vol est impossible.This translates to: First prompted by what is done in aviation, I applied the laws of air resistance to insects, and I arrived, with Mr. Sainte-Laguë, at this conclusion that their flight is impossible.Magnan refers to his assistant, the mathematician and engineer André Sainte-Laguë as the source of the calculations mentioned.