Jorge Newbery

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Jorge Newbery in his plane (around 1912/14)

Jorge Newbery (born May 27, 1875 in Buenos Aires , † March 1, 1914 near Mendoza ) was an Argentine aviation pioneer, engineer, scientist and athlete.

biography

Youth and education

Newbery was the result of the marriage of an American dentist to an Argentine woman. He graduated from the Scottish School of San Andrés de Olivos (Buenos Aires) at the age of 15 and then studied engineering at Cornell University (New York). In 1893, at the age of 18, he moved to the Drexel Institute in Philadelphia , where he was taught by Thomas Alva Edison , among others . In 1895 he graduated as an electrical engineer.

Professional career

At the age of 22, Newbery returned to Buenos Aires and in the same year became managing director of the electrical engineering company Luz y Tracción del Plata . Two years later, in 1897, he joined the Argentine Navy as an engineer and, among other things, was responsible for purchasing electrical engineering material in Europe. In 1900 he left the Navy and was appointed Director General de Instalaciones Eléctricas, Mecánicas y Alumbrado by the city of Buenos Aires , a position he held until his death . In 1904 he became professor of electrical engineering at the Escuela Industrial de la Nación (later Escuela Técnica Otto Krause ) in Buenos Aires. He appeared as a speaker at congresses in Saint Louis , London and Berlin, among others . Between 1906 and 1910 he wrote several scientific articles.

aviation

Around 1907 Newbery made the acquaintance of the Brazilian aviation pioneer Alberto Santos Dumont (1873–1932) and from then on devoted himself to aviation. First he went on balloon flights and in the same year crossed the Río de la Plata in a balloon with Aarón Ancharena . Despite tragic setbacks - his brother died in a balloon accident in 1908 - Newbery continued his commitment and set a South American distance record in 1909 (550 km in 13 hours). When President Roque Sáenz Peña founded the first military flight school in Latin America in 1910, Newbery took over the management. In the same year he was the first pilot to cross the Río de la Plata with a monoplane in one day on a return flight. At the beginning of 1914, he also set a new world altitude record of 6,225 meters with a monoplane.

death

Newbery died on March 1, 1914, at the age of 38, in an air accident near Los Tamarindos near Mendoza while training for an Andean crossing. It is said that he wanted to impress a spectator and borrowed the Morane-Saulnier monoplane from his friend, the world record pilot Pablo Teodoro Fels (1891–1969). Before take-off, he is said to have been warned by his friend that the monoplane was difficult to fly. After several risky flight maneuvers, Newbery lost control of the machine, crashed and died.

Work and appreciation

Newbery is described as the first Argentine folk hero who was not a politician. In addition to his achievements in aviation, he was a successful athlete: multiple boxing champion and three-time South American champion in fencing. He is also said to have been a talented swimmer, rower and racing driver. His death caused great sympathy in Argentina. Newbery was first buried in La Recoleta Cemetery . In 1937 his coffin was transferred to an elaborate mausoleum in the La Chacarita cemetery.

The city ​​airport called Aeroparque Buenos Aires-Jorge Newbery is named after him, also at least four schools and eleven streets. Numerous tangos have been dedicated to him. The city of Buenos Aires annually awards the Premio Jorge Newbery to successful athletes.

literature

  • Raúl Larra: Jorge Newbery, el Conquistador del Espacio. Editorial Futuro, Buenos Aires, 1960, OCLC 3011458 .

Web links

Commons : Jorge Newbery  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Alfredo Serra: La vida de Jorge Newbery attractive one, la leyenda de la Aviación de que forma murió trágica. In: Infobae. May 27, 2017, Retrieved May 5, 2021 (Spanish).
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Nace en 1875 Jorge Alejandro Newbery, ingeniero y el mayor aviador argentino. In: Todo Ciencia. May 27, 2020, accessed May 5, 2021 (Spanish).
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g Alfredo Serra: Vida, obra, hazañas y muerte de Jorge Newbery, el primer ídolo popular argentino. In: Infobae. June 17, 2018, accessed May 5, 2021 (Spanish).
  4. ↑ sinopsis Histórica. In: fuerzaaerea.mil.ar . Archived from the original on January 4, 2016 ; accessed on May 6, 2021 (Spanish).
  5. ^ Accident Morane Saulnier, 01 Mar 1914. In: Aviation Safety Network WikiBase . April 30, 2015, accessed May 6, 2021 .
  6. ^ Eduardo Lazzari: Jorge Alejandro Newbery pionero de la aeronavegación argentina (2ª parte). In: El Liberal. November 25, 2018, accessed May 6, 2021 (Spanish). Eduardo Lazzari: Jorge Alejandro Newbery pionero de la aeronavegación argentina (2ª parte). In: nuevospapeles.com. November 28, 2018, accessed May 6, 2021 (Spanish).
  7. ^ Premios Jorge Newbery. In: buenosaires.gob.ar. Retrieved May 5, 2021 (Spanish).
personal data
SURNAME Newbery, Jorge
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Argentine aviation pioneer
DATE OF BIRTH May 27, 1875
PLACE OF BIRTH Buenos Aires
DATE OF DEATH March 1, 1914
PLACE OF DEATH Mendoza