If you’ve devoted your life to Science, as I have, you develop favorites along the way. One of my hands-down loves is the Pitot Tube, just for its elegant simplicity and because it’s a tube. The device is widely used to determine the airspeed of aircraft, the water speed of boats and the flow velocity of liquids, air, and gases in industry. If you’re a pilot, you care a lot about your Tube, because without it, you could burn a hole in the ground and create a lot of paperwork. You care so much about your Tube, you put a little sock around it when not flying to keep it nice and clean. Frenchman Henri Pitot (1695 - 1771) invented the thing one night when there was nothing good on TV. Next time you get on your stupid SouthWest flight and before you struggle with the other cattle to your miserable coach seat, look for the Pitot Tube (it’s on the front of the fuselage, below the pilot’s window). Then tell your friends. They’ll think differently of you.
© 2024 John Oliver
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