Science says bumblebees should not be able to fly
| Science says bumblebees should not be able to fly | |
|---|---|
| FALSE | |
| "According to the laws of aerodynamics, bumblebees should not be able to fly, but they do anyway." | |
| Domain | Science & Space |
| Tactic | False Context |
| Era | Historical |
| First seen | 1934 |
| Origin | A 1934 French book on insect flight by entomologist Antoine Magnan, citing a calculation by engineer André Sainte-Laguë |
| Last reviewed | 2026-10-30 |
| Further reading: books on Science & Space | |
A popular story, often used in motivational posters, says scientists proved bumblebees cannot fly. It is presented as proof that you can do the impossible.
The original calculation treated a bee's wing like a fixed airplane wing. Bees do not fly like airplanes.
What the evidence shows
- The source. In 1934, Antoine Magnan noted in Le Vol des Insectes that a calculation by his assistant suggested bee flight was impossible. The calculation assumed fixed, smooth wings.
- How bees fly. Bees flap their wings very fast, about 200 times a second, rotating them in a way that creates swirling leading-edge vortices that generate extra lift.
- Research. Biologist Michael Dickinson and colleagues demonstrated these unsteady aerodynamic mechanisms with robotic insect wings in a 1999 paper in Science.
Why it matters
The story teaches children that science gets things wrong, when it actually shows how scientists revise a simple model when it fails to match reality.
Sources
- Michael H. Dickinson, Fritz-Olaf Lehmann and Sanjay P. Sane, "Wing Rotation and the Aerodynamic Basis of Insect Flight," Science, vol. 284, June 18, 1999.
- Scientific American, "The Bumblebee Myth."
- Antoine Magnan, Le Vol des Insectes, Hermann, Paris, 1934.