Today
we reach number eight in my designer’s list. This position is held
by Nikolai Nikolaievich Policarpov (1892 – 1944) another prominent
Russian. Policarpov was part of the design team of many aircrafts
during the 20’s and 30’s, but his name is well remembered for the
I-16 design, the first low wing cantilever monoplane with
retractable landing gear. This man’s life was an epic story; after
failing in the design of the I-6, a program that had been weirdly
managed by a Soviet ‘’genius’’, he was condemned to death by
the Stalin’s regime, along with more than 400 of his team
engineers. I’m glad that things have changed (at least I hope so).
Therefore in my top ten ranking, position 8 goes to Policarpov.
In
this week’s entry we will change course and deal with something
completely different, although it is, in a certain way, related to
the engineering groups that keep alive, what I called last week, the
dynamic knowledge of big companies.
The language is a very diverse and subtle thing, but in our daily use
we tend to liken concepts that are actually different. We will
discuss today about the genius and the brilliance.
