Editing Biomimetics (section)

== History ==
One of the early examples of biomimicry was the study of [[birds]] to enable [[human flight]]. Although never successful in creating a "flying machine", [[Leonardo da Vinci]] (1452–1519) was a keen observer of the [[anatomy]] and flight of birds, and made numerous notes and sketches on his observations as well as sketches of "flying machines".<ref name="Romei 2008 56">{{Cite book | last=Romei | first=Francesca | title=Leonardo Da Vinci | publisher=The Oliver Press  | year=2008 | page=56 | isbn=978-1-934545-00-3}}</ref> The [[Wright Brothers]], who succeeded in flying the first heavier-than-air aircraft in 1903, allegedly derived inspiration from observations of pigeons in flight.<ref>Compare: {{Cite book | last=Howard | first=Fred | title=Wilbur and Orville: A Biography of the Wright Brothers | publisher=Dober Publications | year=1998 | page=33 | isbn=978-0-486-40297-0 | quote = According to Wilbur, he and his brother discovered the birds' method of lateral control one day while observing a flight of pigeons. [...] 'Although we intently watched birds fly in a hope of learning something from them,' [Orville] wrote in 1941, 'I cannot think of anything that was first learned in that way.'}}</ref>

[[File:Leonardo Design for a Flying Machine, c. 1488.jpg|thumb|200px|[[Leonardo da Vinci]]'s [[Science and inventions of Leonardo da Vinci#Flight|design for a flying machine]] with wings based closely upon the structure of bat wings]]

During the 1950s, the American [[biophysicist]] and [[polymath]] [[Otto Schmitt]] developed the concept of "biomimetics".<ref name="Vincent2006">{{cite journal |last= Vincent |first= Julian F.V. |author2= Bogatyreva, Olga A. |author3= Bogatyrev, Nikolaj R. |author4= Bowyer, Adrian |author5= Pahl, Anja-Karina |title= Biomimetics: its practice and theory |journal= Journal of the Royal Society Interface |date= 21 August 2006|volume= 3|issue= 9|pages= 471–482|doi= 10.1098/rsif.2006.0127 |pmid= 16849244 |pmc= 1664643}}</ref> During his doctoral research, he developed the [[Schmitt trigger]] by studying the nerves in squid, attempting to engineer a device that replicated the biological system of [[nerve impulse|nerve propagation]].<ref>{{cite web |title= Otto H. Schmitt, Como People of the Past |url= https://sites.google.com/a/comogreenvillage.info/como-history/home/people-of-the-past-documents/como-people-of-the-past/otto-h-schmitt |publisher= Connie Sullivan, Como History Article |quote= He developed the trigger by studying the nerves in squid and trying to engineer a device that replicated the natural system by which squid nerves propagate. |access-date= 2012-09-25 |archive-date= 2013-10-07 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131007174931/https://sites.google.com/a/comogreenvillage.info/como-history/home/people-of-the-past-documents/como-people-of-the-past/otto-h-schmitt |url-status= dead }}</ref> He continued to focus on devices that mimic natural systems and by 1957 he had perceived a converse to the standard view of [[biophysics]] at that time, a view he would come to call biomimetics.<ref name="Vincent2006" />

{{Blockquote|Biophysics is not so much a subject matter as it is a point of view. It is an approach to problems of biological science utilizing the theory and technology of the physical sciences. Conversely, biophysics is also a biologist's approach to problems of physical science and engineering, although this aspect has largely been neglected.|Otto Herbert Schmitt|''In Appreciation, A Lifetime of Connections''<ref>''In Appreciation, A Lifetime of Connections'': Otto Herbert Schmitt, 1913 - 1998</ref>}}

In 1960, [[Jack E. Steele]] coined a similar term, ''[[bionics]]'', at [[Wright-Patterson Air Force Base]] in Dayton, Ohio, where Otto Schmitt also worked. Steele defined bionics as "the science of systems which have some function copied from nature, or which represent characteristics of natural systems or their analogues".<ref name="McCarty">Mary McCarty. [https://web.archive.org/web/20110604025951/http://www.daytondailynews.com/o/content/oh/story/opinions/columns/2009/01/29/ddn012909mary.html?cxntlid=inform_sr "Life of bionics founder a fine adventure"]. ''Dayton Daily News'', 29 January 2009.</ref><ref name="vincent-2009">{{cite journal |last= Vincent|first= Julian F. V. |title= Biomimetics — a review|journal= Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part H: Journal of Engineering in Medicine |date= November 2009|volume= 223 |issue= 8 |pages= 919–939 |doi= 10.1243/09544119JEIM561|pmid= 20092091 |s2cid= 21895651 }}</ref> During a later meeting in 1963, Schmitt stated:

{{Blockquote|Let us consider what bionics has come to mean operationally and what it or some word like it (I prefer biomimetics) ought to mean in order to make good use of the technical skills of scientists specializing, or rather, I should say, despecializing into this area of research.|Otto Herbert Schmitt|In Appreciation, A Lifetime of Connections: Otto Herbert Schmitt, 1913 - 1998}}

In 1969, Schmitt used the term "biomimetic" in the title one of his papers,<ref>Schmitt O. Third Int. Biophysics Congress. 1969. Some interesting and useful biomimetic transforms. p. 297.</ref> and by 1974 it had found its way into ''[[Webster's Dictionary]]''. Bionics entered the same dictionary earlier in 1960 as "a science concerned with the application of data about the functioning of biological systems to the solution of engineering problems". Bionic took on a different connotation when [[Martin Caidin]] referenced Jack Steele and his work in the novel ''[[Cyborg (novel)|Cyborg]]'', which later resulted in the 1974 television series ''[[The Six Million Dollar Man]]'' and its spin-offs. The term bionic then became associated with "the use of electronically operated artificial body parts" and "having ordinary human powers increased by or as if by the aid of such devices".<ref>{{cite book |title=Compact Oxford English Dictionary |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-19-953296-4|last1=Soanes |first1=Catherine |last2=Hawker |first2=Sara |publisher=Oxford University Press }}</ref> Because the term ''bionic'' took on the implication of supernatural strength, the scientific community in English speaking countries largely abandoned it.<ref name="vincent-2009"/>

The term ''biomimicry'' appeared as early as 1982.<ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Merrill |first=Connie Lange |degree=PhD |title=Biomimicry of the Dioxygen Active Site in the Copper Proteins Hemocyanin and Cytochrome Oxidase |publisher=Rice University |year=1982 |url=https://scholarship.rice.edu/handle/1911/15707 |hdl=1911/15707 |hdl-access=free}}</ref> Biomimicry was popularized by scientist and author [[Janine Benyus]] in her 1997 book ''Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature''. Biomimicry is defined in the book as a "new science that studies nature's models and then imitates or takes inspiration from these designs and processes to solve human problems". Benyus suggests looking to Nature as a "Model, Measure, and Mentor" and emphasizes sustainability as an objective of biomimicry.<ref name="Benyus 1997">{{cite book |last=Benyus |first=Janine |title=Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature |year=1997 |publisher=[[William Morrow & Company]] |location=New York, USA |isbn=978-0-688-16099-9 |ref=Benyus97}}</ref>

The potential long-term impacts of biomimicry were quantified in a 2013 Fermanian Business & Economic Institute Report commissioned by the [[San Diego Zoo]]. The findings demonstrated the potential economic and environmental benefits of biomimicry, which can be further seen in Johannes-Paul Fladerer and Ernst Kurzmann's "managemANT" approach.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kurzmann |first1=Ernst |last2=Fladerer |first2=Johannes-Paul |title=ManagemANT Was Fach- und Führungskräfte von Ameisen lernen können |date=2017 |publisher=Frankfurter Allgemeine Buch |isbn=9783956012082 |edition=1. Auflage}}</ref> This term (a combination of the words "management" and "ant"), describes the usage of behavioural strategies of ants in economic and management strategies.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fladerer |first1=Johannes-Paul |last2=Kurzmann |first2=Ernst |title=WISDOM OF THE MANY: how to create self -organisation and how to use collective... intelligence in companies and in society from mana. |date=November 2019 |publisher=BOOKS ON DEMAND |isbn=9783750422421}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kennedy |first1=Emily |title=Biomimicry: Design by Analogy to Biology |journal=Research Technology Management |date=2017 |volume=60 |issue=6 |pages=51–56 |doi=10.1080/08956308.2017.1373052  |doi-access=free}}</ref>