Leonardo Torres y Quevedo (28 December 1852 – 18 December 1936), usually Leonardo Torres Quevedo in Spanish-speaking countries, was a Spanish engineer and mathematician of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. December 28 is the 362nd day of the year (363rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 3 days remaining. ... 1852 was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... December 18 is the 352nd day of the year (353rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Look up engineer in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Leonhard Euler is considered by many people to be one of the greatest mathematicians of all time A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study and research is mathematics. ...

Biography

Torres was born on 28 December 1852, on the Feast of the Holy Innocents, in Santa Cruz de Iguña, Molledo (Cantabria), Spain. The family resided for the most part in Bilbao, where Torres's father worked as a railway engineer, although they also spent long periods in his mother's family home on Santander's mountains. In Bilbao he studied to enter an advanced high school program and later spent two years in Paris to complete his studies. In 1870, his father was transferred, bringing his family to Madrid. The same year, Torres began his higher studies in the Official School of the Road Engineers' Corps. He temporarily suspended his studies in 1873 to volunteer for the defense of Bilbao, which had been surrounded by Carlist troops during the third Carlist war. Returning to Madrid, he completed his studies in 1876, fourth in his graduating class. Bilbao (Basque: Bilbo) in the North of Spain, is the largest city in the Basque Country and the capital of the province of Biscay (Basque: Bizkaia). ... 1870 (MDCCCLXX) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Monday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ... Madrid is the capital and the largest city in Spain, as well as in the province and the autonomous community of the same name. ... 1873 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calaber). ... Carlism is a traditionalist, legitimist political movement in Spain seeking, among other things, the establishment of a separate line of the Bourbon family on the Spanish throne. ... The Carlist Wars in Spain were the last major European civil wars in which pretenders fought to establish their claim to a throne. ... 1876 (MDCCCLXXVI) is a leap year starting on Saturday. ...

He began his career with the same train company for which his father had worked, but he immediately set out on a long trip through Europe to get to know the scientific and technical advances of the day firsthand, especially in the incipient area of electricity. Upon returning to Spain, he took up residence in Santander where he financed his own work and began a regimen of study and investigation that he never abandoned. The fruit of these investigations appeared in his first scientific work in 1893. World map showing Europe Political map Europe is one of the seven continents of Earth which, in this case, is more a cultural and political distinction than a physiographic one, leading to various perspectives about Europes borders. ... Lightning strikes during a night-time thunderstorm. ... 1893 (MDCCCXCIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...

He married in 1885 and eventually had eight children. 1885 (MDCCCLXXXV) is a common year starting on Thursday. ...

In 1899 he moved to Madrid and became involved in that city's cultural life. From the work he carried out in these years, the Athenaeum created the Laboratory of Applied Mechanics of which he was named director. The Laboratory dedicated itself to the manufacture of scientific instruments. That same year, he entered the Royal Academy of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences in Madrid, of which entity he was president in 1910. Among the works of the Laboratory, the cinematography of Gonzalo Brañas and the X-ray spectrograph of Cabrera and Costa are notable. 1899 (MDCCCXCIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Cinematography is the discipline of making lighting and camera choices when recording photographic images for the cinema. ... In the NATO phonetic alphabet, X-ray represents the letter X. An X-ray picture (radiograph) taken by Röntgen An X-ray is a form of electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength approximately in the range of 5 pm to 10 nanometers (corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 PHz... For Acoustic uses in spectrographs of sound waves, see below. ...

In 1916 King Alfonso XIII bestowed the Echegaray Medal upon him; in 1918, he declined the offer of the position of Minister of Development. In 1920, he entered the Royal Spanish Academy, in the seat that had been occupied by Benito Pérez Galdós, and became a member of the department of Mechanics of the Paris Academy of Science. In 1922 the Sorbonne named him an Honorary Doctor and, in 1927, he was named one of the twelve associated members of the Academy. 1916 (MCMXVI) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... Alfonso XIII of Spain (May 17, 1886 – February 28, 1941), King of Spain, posthumous son of Alfonso XII of Spain, was proclaimed King at his birth. ... 1918 (MCMXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. ... 1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar) // Events January January 3 - Babe Ruth is traded by the Boston Red Sox to the New York Yankees for $125,000, the largest sum ever paid for a player at that time. ... The Real Academia Española (Royal Spanish Academy or RAE) is the institution responsible for regulating the Spanish language. ... Pérez Galdós, detail of an oil painting by Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida By courtesy of the Hispanic Society of America Benito Pérez Galdós (May 10, 1843 – January 4, 1920) was a Spanish novelist. ... The French Academy of Sciences (Académie des sciences) is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French scientific research. ... 1922 (MCMXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... The Sorbonne, Paris, in a 17th century engraving The historic University of Paris (French: Université de Paris) first appeared in the second half of the 12th century, but was in 1970 reorganized as 13 autonomous universities (University of Paris I–XIII). ... 1927 (MCMXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Torres died in Madrid, in the heat of the Spanish Civil War on 18 December 1936, ten days shy of his eighty-fourth birthday. Combatants Second Spanish Republic Foreign volunteers Soviet Union CNT militia UGT militia POUM militia Nationalist Spain Fascist Italy Nazi Germany Foreign volunteers Falangists Carlists Commanders Manuel Azaña Francisco Largo Caballero Juan Negrín Francisco Franco The Spanish Civil War, which lasted from July 18, 1936 to April 1, 1939... December 18 is the 352nd day of the year (353rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Work

Aerostatics

In 1902, Leonardo Torres Quevedo presented to the Science Academies of Madrid and Paris the project of a new type of dirigible that would solve the serious problem of suspending the gondola by including an internal frame of flexible cables that would give the airship rigidity by way of interior pressure. 1902 (MCMII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... USS Akron (ZRS-4) in flight, November 2, 1931 An airship is a buoyant aircraft that can be steered and propelled through the air. ...

In 1905, with the help of Alfredo Kindelán, Torres directed the construction of the first Spanish dirigible in the Army Military Aerostatics Service, created in 1896 and located in Guadalajara. It was completed successfully, and the new airship, the España, made numerous test and exhibition flights. As a result, a collaboration began between Torres and the French company Astra, which managed to buy the patent with a cession of rights extended to all countries except Spain, in order to make possible the construction of the dirigible in its country. So, in 1911, the construction of dirigibles known as theAstra-Torres was begun. Some were acquired by the French and British armies at the beginning of 1913, and were used during the First World War for diverse tasks, principally naval protection and inspection. 1905 (MCMV) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... 1896 (MDCCCXCVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Guadalajara is a city in Castile-La Mancha, Spain, capital of the province of Guadalajara. ... 1911 (MCMXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar). ... 1913 (MCMXIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday. ... Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. ...

In 1918, Torres designed, in collaboration with the engineer Emilio Herrera Linares, a transatlantic dirigible, which was named Hispania, aiming to claim the honor of the first transatlantic flight for Spain. Owing to financial problems, the project was delayed and it was the Britons John Alcock and Arthur Brown who crossed the Atlantic without stop from Newfoundland to Ireland in a Vickers Vimy twin-engine plane, in sixteen hours and twelve minutes. 1918 (MCMXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. ... Emilio Herrera Linares (Granada, 1879 – Geneve, 1967) was a Spanish military engineer. ... Sir John William Alcock (November 5, 1892 – 18 December 1919) was a Captain in the Royal Air Force who, together with navigator Lieutenant Arthur Whitten Brown, piloted the first successful non-stop transatlantic flight from St. ... Sir Arthur Whitten Brown (July 23, 1886 - October 4, 1948) was, as a Lieutenant in the Royal Air Force together with Captain John Alcock, the navigator of the first successful non-stop transatlantic flight, from St Johns, Newfoundland to Clifden, Connemara, Ireland which took place on 14 June 1919... The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest ocean, covering approximately one-fifth of the earths surface. ... Newfoundland (French: Terre-Neuve; Irish: Talamh an Éisc; Latin: Terra Nova) is a large island off the northeast coast of North America, and the most populous part of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. ... The Vickers Vimy was a British heavy bomber aircraft of the World War I era. ...

Chess Automaton

In early 1910 Torres began to construct a chess automaton he dubbed El Ajedrecista (The Chessplayer) which was able to automatically play a king and rook endgame against king from any position using electromagnets under the board, without any human intervention. 1910 (MCMX) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Sunday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar. ... El Ajedrecista (The Chess Player) was an automaton built in 1912 by Leonardo Torres y Quevedo. ...

Cableways

Torres's experimentation in the area of cableways and cable cars began very early during his residence in the town of his birth, Molledo. There, in 1887, he constructed the first cableway to span a depression of some 40 metres. The cableway was some 200 metres across and was pulled by a pair of cows, with one log seat. This experiment was the basis for the request for his first patent, which he sought in the same year: an aerial cable car with multiple cables, with which it obtained a level of safety suitable for the transport of people, not only cargo. Later, he constructed the cableway of the Río León, of greater speed and already with a motor, but which continued to be used solely for the transport of materials, not of people. In 1890 he presented his cableway in Switzerland, a country very interested in that transport owing to its geography and which was already coming to use cable cars for bulk transport, but Torres's project was dismissed, allowing certain ironic commentary from the Swiss press. In 1907, Torres constructed the first cableway suitable for the public transportation of people, in Monte Ulía in San Sebastián. The problem of safety was solved by means of an ingenious system of multiple support cables. The resulting design was very strong and perfectly resisted the rupture of one of the support cables. The execution of the project was the responsibility of the Society of Engineering Studies and Works of Bilbao, which successfully constructed other cableways in Chamonix, Rio de Janeiro, and elsewhere. But it is doubtless the Spanish Aerocar in Niagara Falls in Canada which has gained the greatest fame in this area of activity, although from a scientific point of view it was not the most important. The cableway of 580 meters in length is an aerial cable car that spans the whirlpool in the Niagara Gorge on the Canadian side, constructed between 1914 and 1916, a Spanish project from beginning to end: devised by a Spaniard, constructed by a Spanish company with Spanish capital (The Niagara Spanish Aerocar Co. Limited); a bronze plaque, located on a monolith at the entrance of the access station recalls this fact: Spanish aerial ferry of the Niagara. Leonardo Quevedo Torres (1852–1936). It was inaugurated in tests on 15 February 1916 and was officially inaugurated on 8 August 1916, opening to the public the following day; the cableway, with small modifications, continues to run to this day, with no accidents worthy of mention, constituting a popular tourist and cinematic attraction. A cable car is any of a variety of transportation systems relying on cables to pull vehicles along or lower them at a steady rate, or a vehicle on these systems. ... 1887 (MDCCCLXXXVII) is a common year starting on Saturday (click on link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. ... 1890 (MDCCCXC) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar). ... 1907 (MCMVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Panorama of Chamonix valley Aiguille du Midi and Mont Blanc seen from Le Brévent, a paraglider is in the foreground Chamonix Valley seen from the south Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, or more commonly, Chamonix is a town and commune in eastern France, in the Haute-Savoie département, at the... Flag Seal Location Location of Rio de Janeiro Coordinates , Government Country Region State Brazil Southeast Rio de Janeiro Mayor Cesar Maia (PFL) Geographical characteristics Area     City 1,260 km² Population     City (2005) 5,613,000 [1]     Density   4. ... Whirlpool Aero Car The Spanish Aerocar is a cable car from the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. ... Niagara Falls, Ontario from Niagara Falls State Park in winter Location of Niagara Falls in the Niagara Region Niagara Falls, Ontario (2001 population 78,815) is a city on the Niagara River, in the Golden Horseshoe region. ... Saltstraumen off Norway. ... Niagara Falls (43° 4′ 54. ... 1914 (MCMXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday. ... 1916 (MCMXVI) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... February 15 is the 46th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1916 (MCMXVI) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... August 8 is the 220th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (221st in leap years), with 145 days remaining. ... 1916 (MCMXVI) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Radio Control: the Telekino

In 1903, Torres presented the Telekino at the Paris Academy of Science, accompanied by a brief, and making an experimental demonstration. In the same year, he obtained a patent in France, Spain, Great Britain, and the United States. The Telekino consisted of a robot that executed commands transmitted by electromagnetic waves. It constituted the world's first apparatus for radio control and was a pioneer in the field of remote control. In 1906, in the presence of the king and before a great crowd, Torres successfully demonstrated the invention in the port of Bilbao, guiding a boat from the shore. Later, he would try to apply the Telekino to projectiles and torpedoes, but had to abandon the project for lack of financing. 1903 (MCMIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... ASIMO, a humanoid robot manufactured by Honda. ... It has been suggested that Telecommand be merged into this article or section. ... 1906 (MCMVI) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ...

Analogue calculating machines

Analogue calculating machines seek solutions to eqations by translating them into physical phenomena. Numbers are represented by physical magnitudes such as may be done with certain rotational axes, potentials, electrical or electromagnetic states, and so on. A mathematical process is thereby transformed by these machines into an operative process of certain physical magnitudes which leads to a physical result corresponding with the sought mathematical solution. The mathematical problem therefore is solved by a physical model of itself. From the mid 19th century, various such mechanical devices were known, including integrators, multipliers, and so on, to say nothing of Charles Babbage's analytical machine. It is against this background that Torres's work is defined. He began with a presentation in 1893 at the Academy of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences of the Memory on algebraic machines. In his time, this was considered an extraordinary success for Spanish scientific production. In 1895 the machines were presented at a congress in Bordeaux. Later on, in 1900, la Memoria would present the calculating machines at the Paris Academy of Sciences. These machines examined mathematical and physical analogies that underlay analogue calculation or continuous quantities, and how to establish mechanically the relationships between them, expressed in mathematical formulae. The study included complex variables and used the logarithmic scale. From a practical standpoint, it showed that mechanisms such as turning disks could be used endlessly with precision, so that variables' variations were limited in both directions. Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Charles Babbage Charles Babbage (26 December 1791 – 18 October 1871) was an English mathematician, analytical philosopher, mechanical engineer and (proto-) computer scientist who originated the idea of a programmable computer. ... 1893 (MDCCCXCIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... The Eiffel Tower, the international symbol of the city, as viewed from the Trocadéro This article is about the capital and largest city in France. ... The French Academy of Sciences (Académie des sciences) is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French scientific research. ...

On the practical side, Torres built a whole series of analogue calculating machines, all mechanical. These machines used certain elements known as arithmophores which consisted of a moving part and an index that made it possible to read the quantity according to the position shown thereon. The aforesaid moving part was a graduated disk or a drum turning on an axis. The angular movements were proportional to the logarithms of the magnitudes to be represented. Using a number of such elements, Torres developed a machine that could solve algebraic equations, even one with eight terms, finding the roots, including the complex ones, with a precision down to thousandths. One part of this machine, called an "endless spindle" and consisting of great mechanical complexity, allowed the mechanical expression of the relation y=log(10x+1), with the aim of extracting the logarithm of a sum as a sum of logarithms. Since an analogical machine was being used, the variable could be of any value (not only discrete prefixed values). With a polynomial equation, the wheels representing the unknown spin round, and the result gives the values of the sum of the variables. When this sum coincides with the value of the second member, the wheel of the unknown shows a root.

With the intention of demonstrating them, Torres also built a machine for solving a second-grade equation with complex coefficients, and an integrator. Nowadays, the Torres machine is kept in the museum at the ETS de Ingenieros de Caminos of the Technical University of Madrid. The Technical University of Madrid (Spanish: Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, often abbreviated as UPM), is an important Spanish university, located in Madrid. ...

See also

• List of Spanish scientists, engineers and inventors