Swedenborg's 1714 Airplane

An entertaining look at Swedenborg's invention of a flying machine

Anticipating the modern airplane by more than 150 years, Swedish scientist and theologian Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) developed one of the earliest functional designs for a flying machine. Aviation expert Henry Soderberg examines Swedenborg's design from an aviation perspective and discusses its place in the history of flight.

Emanuel Swedenborg was born Emanuel Swedberg in Stockholm, Sweden on January 29, 1688. A member of the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences, he devoted himself to scientific studies and philosophical reflections that culminated in a number of publications, most notably a comprehensive three-volume work on mineralogy that brought him recognition across Europe as a scientist and philosopher. He devoted the last decades of his life to studying Scripture and publishing eighteen theological titles that draw on the Bible, reasoning, and his own spiritual experiences. These works present a Christian theology with unique perspectives on the nature of God, the spiritual world, the Bible, the human mind, and the path to salvation.