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In 1670, the Jesuit priest Francesco de Lana wrote about what?

An aerial ship, an early idea for a lighter-than-air craft.

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  1. A steam train
  2. A submarine
  3. An aerial ship ✔

Why: De Lana proposed a craft lifted by four evacuated copper spheres. Atmospheric pressure would have crushed them, so the design could not work.

Huh, didn't know that: In 1709, Jesuit priest Bartolomeu Lourenço de Gusmão demonstrated a small hot-air balloon.

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Why did de Lana's airship idea float? It was full of empty promises.
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References

Answer: An aerial ship. De Lana proposed a craft lifted by four evacuated copper spheres. Atmospheric pressure would have crushed them, so the design could not work.

  1. ICAO: Aviation History, Human Flights with Balloons www.icao.int/sites/default/files/postalhistory/aviation_history_human_flights_with_balloons.htm
    comprising a boat hull with mast and sail borne up by four tethered paper-thin copper spheres
    Checked 2026-10-10.
  2. ICAO: Aviation History, Human Flights with Balloons www.icao.int/sites/default/files/postalhistory/aviation_history_human_flights_with_balloons.htm
    demonstrated on 8 August 1709 a model hot-air balloon before King John V and Queen Maria Anna of Portugal
    Checked 2026-10-10.

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