Here’s a biologist (or press office) with a sense of timing. Two months ago, Roger Wotton of University College London published a study on the means of locomotion of mythical winged creatures. Today, he’s been all over the press thanks to the seasonal appropriateness of one of his findings: that angels, as traditionally represented in works of art, would be unable to fly. In short, they move in mysterious ways.
Of course, even a cursory examination of the evidence in representational art shows that angels and cherubs cannot take off and cannot use powered flight. If they use gliding flight they would need to be exposed to very high wind velocities at take off – such high winds that they would be blown away and have no need for wings except for recovery to a substratum when the winds died down. Interestingly, Giotto shows one angel with a rigid mono-wing which could be an adaptation for gliding flight.
Well, that told us.
His study is published in Opticon1826, a twice-yearly reviewed journal of UCL research. He later goes on to assert that there is no evidence from the bible that angels and archangels have wings at all (only the Seraphim and Cherubim have that distinction), and their wingedness is a medieval invention.
Normally, at this point, I’d be checking the study and press releases to see if there is some kind of commercial connection to the research (as in the recent scientific findings about parking that just happened to be commissioned by a well-known car manufacturer). However, Prof Wooton’s study appears to be flying on its own merits (but see below).
Although the findings might be easily dismissed as an academic’s idea of light entertainment, the study may be of moment to some. According to one poll, a bewildering 68% of Americans believe that angels and demons are at work in the world. Yes, sixty-eight percent! How? Why? I don’t understand.
One final observation. I note that the university’s investment group goes by the name of UCL Angels. The name of their Chairman? Dan Brown.
Ref: ANGELS, PUTTI, DRAGONS AND FAIRIES: BELIEVING THE IMPOSSIBLE, by Roger S. Wooton. Opticon1826, Issue 7, Autumn 2009