set gArticles = [["Partwork"], ["pic", "cutting", "cutting", "animation", "cutting"]]
set gDates = [[], [0, "The Times, Sep 3, 1959", "The Times, June 21, 1963", 0, "The Times, Dec 16, 1975"]]
set gName = getat(["Gray"],1)
@[]#FRIGHTENED MAN AND SCIENTIST#SECRETS OF BIRD FLIGHT##OBITUARY: SIR JAMES GRAY
Gray pointed out that with ships and speedboats, "Man has completely outclassed Nature": few animals of any size can propel themselves along the surface of water. On the other hand, fish and dolphins perform much better under water than any submarine#In 1954, Gray was rewarded with a knighthood for his work#Gray's pioneering research papers on animal locomotion, both studies of marine life, were snappliy entitiled "The movement of fish with special reference to the eel" and "The propulsive mechanism of the whiting"#Although in many environments, particularly on rough ground, animals can out-perform machines, Gray admitted in 1968 that "it cannot be claimed that the study of animal propulsion has greatly contributed towards the general welfare of mankind or to the amenities of modern life"#Among Gray's early precursors in the field of animal locomotion were Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), whose very accurate technical drawings were only published in the Thirties, and Giovanni Alfonso Borelli (1608-1679), the author of On the Movement of Animals#The "most striking difference" between animal locomotion and that of machines, Gray pointed out, is the absence in nature of "any structure equivalent to the rotating wheel"#Gray often gave lectures to children on the subject of animal locomotion. On one occasion he borrowed a plucked grouse from a local butcher to illustrate a talk on birdflight. The children were apparently fascinated, though Sir James said he wished he could have used a bird that still had its feathers
