science · 29 July 1953 · 71 years ago
death
Died 29 Jul 1953 at age 75 (born 3 Dec 1877).
New Zealand inventor and aviation pioneer who at age 21, turned from farming his 100 acres of land, and built a workshop with a forge and a lathe to become an inventor. His first patent was a type of bicycle. By 1902, Pearse had probably built a lightweight two-cylinder engine and first plane out of bamboo, tubular steel, wire and canvas. Accounts of the dates and details of his flights vary because they were not documented, but it is believed that on 31 Mar 1903 he made at least a powered takeoff, though not a controlled, sustained flight, covering perhaps 350 yards before crashing into a tall gorse fence. (It would be the fifth successful powered takeoff in the world.) He made other inventions in his life. Pearse died poor, in a mental hospital.
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