Leonardo Torres Quevedo

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Torres and the second or maternal family name is Quevedo.
The Most Excellent
Leonardo Torres Quevedo
Autochrome by Auguste Léon, 1921
Born
Leonardo Torres Quevedo

(1852-12-28)28 December 1852
Molledo, Spain
Died18 December 1936(1936-12-18) (aged 83)
Madrid, Spain
Burial placeSaint Isidore Cemetery
NationalitySpanish
EducationOfficial School of the Road Engineers' Corps (Technical University of Madrid)
Occupations
Years active1876–1930
Known for
See list
Spouse
Luz Polanco y Navarro
​
​
(m. 1885)​
Children8, including Gonzalo Torres Polanco
Awards
See list
Seat N of the Real Academia Española
In office
31 October 1920 – 18 December 1936
Preceded byBenito Pérez Galdós
Succeeded byManuel Machado
18th President of the Spanish Royal Physics Society
In office
1920
Preceded byDomingo de Orueta
Succeeded byRicardo Aranaz e Izaguirre
3rd President of the Royal Spanish Mathematical Society
In office
1920–1924
Preceded byZoel García de Galdeano
Succeeded byLuis Octavio de Toledo y Zulueta
7th President of the Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences
In office
1928–1934
Preceded byJosé Rodríguez Carracido
Succeeded byBlas Cabrera
Signature

Leonardo Torres Quevedo (Spanish: [leoˈnaɾðo ˈtores keˈβeðo]; 28 December 1852 – 18 December 1936) was a Spanish civil engineer, mathematician and inventor, known for his numerous engineering innovations, including aerial trams, airships, catamarans, and remote control. He was also a pioneer in the field of computing and robotics. Torres was a member of several scientific and cultural institutions and held such important positions as the seat N of the Real Academia Española (1920–1936) and the presidency of the Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences (1928–1934). In 1927 he became a foreign associate of the French Academy of Sciences.[4]

His first groundbreaking invention was a cable car system patented in 1887 for the safe transportation of people, an activity that culminated in 1916 when the Whirlpool Aero Car was opened in Niagara Falls.[5] In the 1890s, Torres focused his efforts on analog computation. He published Sur les machines algébriques (1895) and Machines à calculer (1901), technical studies that gave him recognition in France for his construction of machines to solve real and complex roots of polynomials.[6] He made significant aeronautical contributions at the beginning of the 20th century, becoming the inventor of the non-rigid Astra-Torres airships, a trilobed structure that helped the British and French armies counter Germany's submarine warfare during World War I.[7] These tasks in dirigible engineering led him to be a key figure in the development of radio control systems in 1901–05 with the Telekine, which he laid down modern wireless remote-control operation principles.[8]

From his Laboratory of Automation created in 1907, Torres invented one of his greatest technological achievements, El Ajedrecista (The Chess Player) of 1912,[9] an electromagnetic device capable of playing a limited form of chess that demonstrated the capability of machines to be programmed to follow specified rules (heuristics) and marked the beginnings of research into the development of artificial intelligence.[10] He advanced beyond the work of Charles Babbage in his 1914 paper Essays on Automatics,[11] where he speculated about thinking machines and included the design of a special-purpose electromechanical calculator, introducing concepts still relevant like floating-point arithmetic. British historian Brian Randell called it "a fascinating work which well repays reading even today".[12] Subsequently, Torres demonstrated the feasibility of an electromechanical analytical engine by successfully producing a typewriter-controlled calculating machine in 1920.[13]

He conceived other original designs before his retirement in 1930, some of the most notable were in naval architecture projects, such as the Buque campamento (Camp-Vessel, 1913), a balloon carrier for transporting airships attached to a mooring mast of his creation,[14] and the Binave (Twin Ship, 1916), a multihull steel vessel driven by two propellers powered by marine engines.[15] In addition to his interests in engineering, Torres also stood out in the field of letters and was a prominent speaker and supporter of Esperanto.[16]

  1. ^ "Reales decretos concediendo la Gran Cruz de la Orden civil de Alfonso XII á D. José Malheiro Reyano, D. Francisco Rodríguez Marín y D. Leonardo de Torres Quevedo" (PDF). Gaceta de Madrid (257). Madrid: 1049. 14 September 1906.
  2. ^ "Real decreto nombrando Caballeros Gran Cruz de la Real y distinguida Orden de Carlos III a D. Leonardo Torres Quevedo, D. Fernando Pérez de Barradas, Marqués de Peñaflor; D. José Antonio Azlor-Aragón y Hurtado de Zaldívar, Duque de Villahermosa, y a D. José María de Hoyos y Vinent, Marqués de Hoyos" (PDF). Gaceta de Madrid (4). Madrid: 43. 4 January 1921.
  3. ^ "Torres Quevedo doctor "honoris causa"". La Libertad (in Spanish). 25 November 1923.
  4. ^ "Leonardo Torres Quevedo (1852–1936)" (in Spanish). Complutense University of Madrid. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
  5. ^ "Leonardo Torres y Quevedo. The Whirlpool Aero Car". Weebly. Retrieved 3 September 2024.
  6. ^ Francisco A. González Redondo. Leonardo Torres Quevedo (1852–1936). 1ª Parte. Las máquinas algébricas., La Gaceta de la RSME, 2004.
  7. ^ González Redondo, Francisco A. The Aeronautical Contribution of Leonardo Torres Quevedo: from World War I to 21st Century. Cockade International Journal (1360-9009) January 2009, 40(3):151–161. ResearchGate.
  8. ^ Alfred, Randy. "Nov. 7, 1905: Remote Control Wows Public". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
  9. ^ Williams, Andrew (2017). History of Digital Games: Developments in Art, Design and Interaction. CRC Press. ISBN 978-1317503811.
  10. ^ William L. Hosch (20 March 2009). "Leonardo Torres Quevedo". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  11. ^ Torres Quevedo, L. (1914). "Ensayos sobre Automática – Su definicion. Extension teórica de sus aplicaciones". Revista de la Real Academia de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales, 12, pp. 391–418.
  12. ^ Randell 1982, pp. 6, 11–13.
  13. ^ Randell, Brian. Digital Computers, History of Origins, (pdf), p. 545, Digital Computers: Origins, Encyclopedia of Computer Science, January 2003.
  14. ^ Francisco A. González Redondo. Del 'buque-campamento' de Torres Quevedo (1913) al 'Dédalo' (1922) de la Armada Española pp. 645–656, Revista General de Marina, November 2017. ResearchGate.
  15. ^ Rodrigo Pérez Fernández. Francisco A. González Redondo. On the origin, foundational designs and first manufacture of the modern catamaran, International Journal of Maritime History, Sage Publishing, Volume 34, Issue 3, 1 February 2022.
  16. ^ José Antonio del Barrio (2003). "Leonardo Torres Quevedo y el esperanto". Retrieved 23 September 2024.