Antoine Magnan (; 13 June 1881 – 5 March 1938) was a French

zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...

and

aeronautical engineer Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is s ...

who studied the flight of

insect Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...

s and

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

s for possible lessons to apply to powered flight. He is best known for a remark in his 1934 book ''Le Vol des Insectes'' ("Insect Flight") that

insect flight Insects are the only group of invertebrates that have evolved insect wing, wings and flight. Insects first flew in the Carboniferous, some 300 to 350 million years ago, making them the first animals to evolve flight. Wings may have evolved from ...

was impossible.

Life and work

Magnan was born in the central 7th arrondissement of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

on 13 June 1881. 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 Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' include fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air aircraft such as h ...

at the

Collège de France The (), formerly known as the or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment () in France. It is located in Paris near La Sorbonne. The has been considered to be France's most ...

(from 1929 to 1938), and the director of the experimental morphology laboratory and the aviation laboratory at the

École pratique des hautes études The (), abbreviated EPHE, is a French postgraduate top level educational institution, a . EPHE is a constituent college of the Université PSL (together with ENS Ulm, Paris Dauphine or Ecole des Mines). The college is closely linked to É ...

in Paris. He was responsible to the ministries of Education, Agriculture and the Interior.

Insect flight

The following passage appears in the introduction to ''Le Vol des Insectes'': This translates to: Magnan refers to his assistant, the

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

and engineer André Sainte-Laguë as the source of the calculations mentioned.

Works

* ''Le tube digestif et le Régime alimentaire des Oiseaux''. Hermann, 1911. * ''Le Poids des tectrices chez les oiseaux carinatés''. Imprimerie Nationale, 1912. * ''Les caractéristiques des oiseaux suivant le mode de vol: leur application a la construction des avions''. Masson, 1922. * ''Le vol des oiseaux: directives que l'on peut en tirer pour l'aviation''. G. Roche D'Estrez, 1922. * ''Pour voler à voile: études expérimentales sur le vol à voile des oiseaux avec l'application à l'aviation (extraits de L'air)''. G. Roche D'Estrez, 1923. * "L'Énergie interne du vent et le vol à voile". Revue generale des sciences pures et appliquees, 28 Feb 1925, v.36, pp. 101–11. * ''L'Accélérographe H.M.P.: Son application à la mesure des accélérations en vol''. With E. Huguenard and A. Planiol. 1926 * ''Essai de Théorie Du Poisson''. With André Sainte-Laguë. Services Techniques de l'Aéronautique, 1929. * ''Les caractéristiques géométriques et physiques des poissons avec contribution à l'étude de leur équilibre statique et dynamique, Volumes 1-2''. Masson, 1929. * ''Hodographes et polaires d'avions'', 1930. * ''Étude des trajectoires et des qualités aérodynamiques d'un avion par l'emploi d'un appareil cinématographique de bord''. With André Sainte-Laguë. E. Blondel La Rougery, 1932. * "Sur le poids relatif des muscles moteurs des ailes chez les insectes." With C. Perrilliat-Botonet. ''C. R. Acad. Sci.'' v.195, pp. 559–561. * ''Cinématographie jusqu'à 12000 vues par seconde avec application à l'étude du vol des insectes''. Hermann, 1932. * ''Sur l'excédant de puissance des oiseaux''. Hermann, 1933. * ''Le Vol des Insectes'' ("Insect Flight"). Volume 1 of ''Locomotion chez les animaux'' ("Locomotion in Animals"), Hermann, 1934.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Magnan, Antoine 1881 births 1938 deaths French entomologists French aerospace engineers 20th-century French zoologists