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	<title>Comments on: Who was Neon?</title>
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	<description>Airpower and British society, 1908-1941</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Wed, 23 May 2012 10:08:07 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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		<title>By: Brett Holman</title>
		<link>http://airminded.org/2008/04/28/who-was-neon/comment-page-1/#comment-163547</link>
		<dc:creator>Brett Holman</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 17 May 2012 10:53:10 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://airminded.org/2008/04/28/who-was-neon/#comment-163547</guid>
		<description>Thanks, Ian! Since writing this post I&#039;ve become more and more convinced that Neon was Bernard Acworth, mainly because of the similarity of style and subject matter, both quite idiosyncratic. I&#039;m glad to find somebody else who has reached the same conclusion independently! (I assume you met Bernard&#039;s son in Portsmouth, not his father :) Will you be writing up your findings somewhere? (I updated this post for &lt;a href=&quot;http://airminded.org/2009/06/12/who-was-neon-again/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a non-academic publication&lt;/a&gt; but I still didn&#039;t have a definitive answer then.) So I have some questions, if I may. Do you have any idea how Marion Acworth became associated (at least as far as rumour and the BL are concerned) with Neon? I&#039;m just curious as to how this happened, since (in retrospect) he&#039;s the more likely candidate. (Nice to see they were close, though, my hunch that she had at least some influence seems borne out.) You say he also wrote as &#039;Poseidon&#039;; I haven&#039;t seen that, what did he write about? (Something more nautical I would guess!) Finally, what is your judgement of his writing on energy security (which I admit I haven&#039;t paid much attention to) -- does it hold up better than, say, his thinking on the impossibility of long-distance air routes?</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Thanks, Ian! Since writing this post I've become more and more convinced that Neon was Bernard Acworth, mainly because of the similarity of style and subject matter, both quite idiosyncratic. I'm glad to find somebody else who has reached the same conclusion independently! (I assume you met Bernard's son in Portsmouth, not his father :) Will you be writing up your findings somewhere? (I updated this post for <a href="http://airminded.org/2009/06/12/who-was-neon-again/" rel="nofollow">a non-academic publication</a> but I still didn't have a definitive answer then.) So I have some questions, if I may. Do you have any idea how Marion Acworth became associated (at least as far as rumour and the BL are concerned) with Neon? I'm just curious as to how this happened, since (in retrospect) he's the more likely candidate. (Nice to see they were close, though, my hunch that she had at least some influence seems borne out.) You say he also wrote as 'Poseidon'; I haven't seen that, what did he write about? (Something more nautical I would guess!) Finally, what is your judgement of his writing on energy security (which I admit I haven't paid much attention to) -- does it hold up better than, say, his thinking on the impossibility of long-distance air routes?</p>
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		<title>By: Ian Wereley</title>
		<link>http://airminded.org/2008/04/28/who-was-neon/comment-page-1/#comment-163531</link>
		<dc:creator>Ian Wereley</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 14 May 2012 05:50:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://airminded.org/2008/04/28/who-was-neon/#comment-163531</guid>
		<description>I just stumbled upon this neat article,
I have been doing research on Bernard Acworth, &#039;Neon,&#039; and &#039;Poseidon&#039; (another of his pseudonyms). Bernard was, among many other things, quite the energy critic, and wrote throughout the interwar period on oil, coal, and energy security. (See the last chapter of the Great Delusion). This past winter I visited Wales researching Acworth, and met with his father in Portsmouth. Confirmed, Neon was Bernard all along, but he is reported to have enjoyed many afternoons discussing aircraft, fuel, strategy, and other topics with his favourite cousin, Marion Whitford Acworth. Acworth used Neon to remain anonymous, until he retired in February of 1931, and occassionally afterwards as well. My best guess on Bernard&#039;s tech savvyness is that he was a sub commander, torpedo technologist, and commander of an anti-submarine research flotilla -- all experiences that would have given him a great deal of training in applied sciences. Acworth was a very fascinating man, and I&#039;d enjoy any more discussion.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I just stumbled upon this neat article,<br />
I have been doing research on Bernard Acworth, 'Neon,' and 'Poseidon' (another of his pseudonyms). Bernard was, among many other things, quite the energy critic, and wrote throughout the interwar period on oil, coal, and energy security. (See the last chapter of the Great Delusion). This past winter I visited Wales researching Acworth, and met with his father in Portsmouth. Confirmed, Neon was Bernard all along, but he is reported to have enjoyed many afternoons discussing aircraft, fuel, strategy, and other topics with his favourite cousin, Marion Whitford Acworth. Acworth used Neon to remain anonymous, until he retired in February of 1931, and occassionally afterwards as well. My best guess on Bernard's tech savvyness is that he was a sub commander, torpedo technologist, and commander of an anti-submarine research flotilla -- all experiences that would have given him a great deal of training in applied sciences. Acworth was a very fascinating man, and I'd enjoy any more discussion.</p>
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		<title>By: Airminded &#183; Father Neptune and the American girl</title>
		<link>http://airminded.org/2008/04/28/who-was-neon/comment-page-1/#comment-147233</link>
		<dc:creator>Airminded &#183; Father Neptune and the American girl</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sat, 14 Aug 2010 19:08:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://airminded.org/2008/04/28/who-was-neon/#comment-147233</guid>
		<description>[...] Sueter has Father Neptune say he intends to fly with a woman may be a reference to the suspected identity of Neon (a woman who didn&#039;t think much of flying at all). But I&#039;m not sure why he singled out [...]</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>[...] Sueter has Father Neptune say he intends to fly with a woman may be a reference to the suspected identity of Neon (a woman who didn&#039;t think much of flying at all). But I&#039;m not sure why he singled out [...]</p>
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		<title>By: Airminded &#183; Who was Neon again?</title>
		<link>http://airminded.org/2008/04/28/who-was-neon/comment-page-1/#comment-106574</link>
		<dc:creator>Airminded &#183; Who was Neon again?</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 12 Jun 2009 10:02:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://airminded.org/2008/04/28/who-was-neon/#comment-106574</guid>
		<description>[...] year I wrote a post in which I tried to work out the identity of Neon, the author of an eccentric but popular diatribe [...]</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>[...] year I wrote a post in which I tried to work out the identity of Neon, the author of an eccentric but popular diatribe [...]</p>
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		<title>By: Brett Holman</title>
		<link>http://airminded.org/2008/04/28/who-was-neon/comment-page-1/#comment-91209</link>
		<dc:creator>Brett Holman</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 27 Nov 2008 08:52:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://airminded.org/2008/04/28/who-was-neon/#comment-91209</guid>
		<description>Thanks, John! So Bernard and Marion were third cousins, is that right? 

Can you shed any light on the relationship between Neon, Bernard and Marion?</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Thanks, John! So Bernard and Marion were third cousins, is that right? </p>
<p>Can you shed any light on the relationship between Neon, Bernard and Marion?</p>
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		<title>By: John Acworth</title>
		<link>http://airminded.org/2008/04/28/who-was-neon/comment-page-1/#comment-89776</link>
		<dc:creator>John Acworth</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sun, 16 Nov 2008 07:54:27 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://airminded.org/2008/04/28/who-was-neon/#comment-89776</guid>
		<description>Marion Acworth&#039;s husband Joseph John William Acworth (1853-1927) and Bernard Acworth (1885-1963) shared the same Great Great Grandfather James Acworth, shipwright at Chatham, b 6.10.1762

The latter being my Great Great Great Great Great Grandfather</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Marion Acworth's husband Joseph John William Acworth (1853-1927) and Bernard Acworth (1885-1963) shared the same Great Great Grandfather James Acworth, shipwright at Chatham, b 6.10.1762</p>
<p>The latter being my Great Great Great Great Great Grandfather</p>
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		<title>By: Brett Holman</title>
		<link>http://airminded.org/2008/04/28/who-was-neon/comment-page-1/#comment-85872</link>
		<dc:creator>Brett Holman</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sat, 27 Sep 2008 06:34:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://airminded.org/2008/04/28/who-was-neon/#comment-85872</guid>
		<description>Yes, she may well have influenced him, but I still think he was the driving force. That &#039;relativity&#039; stuff is amazingly loopy. I found an excerpt from &lt;em&gt;This Bondage&lt;/em&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://fretmarks.blogspot.com/2005/11/this-bondage.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;:
&lt;blockquote&gt;Turning again to sucessful flights and projected routes from North Africa to South America, we at once observe the significance of the steady and permanent north-east trade wind. But where can we find the return voyages? In South America, European aircraft will become as indigenous as are European birds reported to become indigenous in the Cape Verde Islands. Flights to and from South Africa follow the route, and to a great extent, the seasons, of the swallows. There is indeed no exception to the rule that aircraft in long flights migrate with the wind and are seldom seen again in the land of their origin if the prevailing wind is from one direction, as in the northern hemisphere it is. Thus all &#039;migratory&#039; aircraft in the northern hemisphere gradually accumulate in the East until they are destroyed from one cause or another, when they are replaced from the &#039;breeding grounds&#039; in the West.&lt;/blockquote&gt;
Compare with Neon&#039;s &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/28jan/neon.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Atlantic Monthly&lt;/em&gt; article&lt;/a&gt;:
&lt;blockquote&gt;The domination of the wind over aircraft is complete. An aeroplane in the air cannot use the wind. There can be no comparison between the action of wind on a sailing ship and the action of wind - moving air - on an aeroplane flying in it and completely surrounded by it. In the air there can be no &#039;trimming of sails,&#039; no &#039;beating to windward,&#039; for to all the courses of the air and to its full speed the aeroplane unconsciously and completely conforms. A &#039;sea&#039; of air envelops it; within this moving &#039;sea&#039; the airman unconsciously drives his plane and steers a course. His course over land or sea and his speed &#039;made good&#039; are the resultant of known and unknown factors. Adequate provision can be made for the known factors, and should no engine trouble occur or compass errors develop, and were the &#039;sea&#039; in which the airman flies as stationary as the sea or land beneath him, the airman must arrive at his destination and at the prearranged time; were even the movement of the medium known, and could it be relied upon not to alter in rate and direction during the whole journey, the time of safe arrival could be calculated beforehand; but should the aviator&#039;s &#039;sea&#039; take some unexpected course during passage, the time of arrival is uncertain—in a long flight the end may never be known. The skill of the pilot cannot ensure success or avert disaster, for the wind is at the helm, imposing upon a craft its own direction and speed.&lt;/blockquote&gt;
It&#039;s the same line of argument.

I did find somewhere which suggested that he connected his critique of &#039;relativity&#039; (which is Galilean relativity) with Einstein&#039;s, but I don&#039;t think that was his main target.

What a wonder the human mind is, that it can in all seriousness come up with a sentence like &#039;Thus all &#039;migratory&#039; aircraft in the northern hemisphere gradually accumulate in the East until they are destroyed from one cause or another, when they are replaced from the &#039;breeding grounds&#039; in the West&#039;!</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Yes, she may well have influenced him, but I still think he was the driving force. That 'relativity' stuff is amazingly loopy. I found an excerpt from <em>This Bondage</em> <a href="http://fretmarks.blogspot.com/2005/11/this-bondage.html" rel="nofollow">here</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>Turning again to sucessful flights and projected routes from North Africa to South America, we at once observe the significance of the steady and permanent north-east trade wind. But where can we find the return voyages? In South America, European aircraft will become as indigenous as are European birds reported to become indigenous in the Cape Verde Islands. Flights to and from South Africa follow the route, and to a great extent, the seasons, of the swallows. There is indeed no exception to the rule that aircraft in long flights migrate with the wind and are seldom seen again in the land of their origin if the prevailing wind is from one direction, as in the northern hemisphere it is. Thus all 'migratory' aircraft in the northern hemisphere gradually accumulate in the East until they are destroyed from one cause or another, when they are replaced from the 'breeding grounds' in the West.</p></blockquote>
<p>Compare with Neon's <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/28jan/neon.htm" rel="nofollow"><em>Atlantic Monthly</em> article</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>The domination of the wind over aircraft is complete. An aeroplane in the air cannot use the wind. There can be no comparison between the action of wind on a sailing ship and the action of wind - moving air - on an aeroplane flying in it and completely surrounded by it. In the air there can be no 'trimming of sails,' no 'beating to windward,' for to all the courses of the air and to its full speed the aeroplane unconsciously and completely conforms. A 'sea' of air envelops it; within this moving 'sea' the airman unconsciously drives his plane and steers a course. His course over land or sea and his speed 'made good' are the resultant of known and unknown factors. Adequate provision can be made for the known factors, and should no engine trouble occur or compass errors develop, and were the 'sea' in which the airman flies as stationary as the sea or land beneath him, the airman must arrive at his destination and at the prearranged time; were even the movement of the medium known, and could it be relied upon not to alter in rate and direction during the whole journey, the time of safe arrival could be calculated beforehand; but should the aviator's 'sea' take some unexpected course during passage, the time of arrival is uncertain—in a long flight the end may never be known. The skill of the pilot cannot ensure success or avert disaster, for the wind is at the helm, imposing upon a craft its own direction and speed.</p></blockquote>
<p>It's the same line of argument.</p>
<p>I did find somewhere which suggested that he connected his critique of 'relativity' (which is Galilean relativity) with Einstein's, but I don't think that was his main target.</p>
<p>What a wonder the human mind is, that it can in all seriousness come up with a sentence like 'Thus all 'migratory' aircraft in the northern hemisphere gradually accumulate in the East until they are destroyed from one cause or another, when they are replaced from the 'breeding grounds' in the West'!</p>
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		<title>By: Erik Lund</title>
		<link>http://airminded.org/2008/04/28/who-was-neon/comment-page-1/#comment-85805</link>
		<dc:creator>Erik Lund</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 26 Sep 2008 17:39:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://airminded.org/2008/04/28/who-was-neon/#comment-85805</guid>
		<description>Acworth&#039;s argument, as summarised in an article in the _Naval Review_, is that planes, aircraft, and especially airships, can&#039;t navigate with respect to the ground, but only with respect to the wind, and so can&#039;t really get anywhere. That&#039;s the relativity thing. The evolution thing is that birds clearly aren&#039;t really migrating, just ending up somewhere, so they didn&#039;t evolve to migrate.. (I think. I was following the same track as Brett, discovering the identity of the mysterious &quot;Neon.&quot;) 
So planes can&#039;t navigate.
But wait, there&#039;s more! There&#039;s all this physicking stuff about frames of reference in here. I think you&#039;re discounting Ms. Acworth&#039;s contribution. At least some of the dotty stuff seems to come from a dotty physicist rather than a dotty navalist.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Acworth's argument, as summarised in an article in the _Naval Review_, is that planes, aircraft, and especially airships, can't navigate with respect to the ground, but only with respect to the wind, and so can't really get anywhere. That's the relativity thing. The evolution thing is that birds clearly aren't really migrating, just ending up somewhere, so they didn't evolve to migrate.. (I think. I was following the same track as Brett, discovering the identity of the mysterious "Neon.")<br />
So planes can't navigate.<br />
But wait, there's more! There's all this physicking stuff about frames of reference in here. I think you're discounting Ms. Acworth's contribution. At least some of the dotty stuff seems to come from a dotty physicist rather than a dotty navalist.</p>
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		<title>By: Investigations of a Dog &#187; 14th Military History Carnival</title>
		<link>http://airminded.org/2008/04/28/who-was-neon/comment-page-1/#comment-80959</link>
		<dc:creator>Investigations of a Dog &#187; 14th Military History Carnival</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 13 Aug 2008 16:11:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://airminded.org/2008/04/28/who-was-neon/#comment-80959</guid>
		<description>[...] the Air Transport Auxiliary, a role which involved flying planes and risking death. Brett Holman at Airminded finds airmindedness and an androgynous mind when he investigates the mysterious writer known only [...]</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>[...] the Air Transport Auxiliary, a role which involved flying planes and risking death. Brett Holman at Airminded finds airmindedness and an androgynous mind when he investigates the mysterious writer known only [...]</p>
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		<title>By: Brett Holman</title>
		<link>http://airminded.org/2008/04/28/who-was-neon/comment-page-1/#comment-78210</link>
		<dc:creator>Brett Holman</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:23:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://airminded.org/2008/04/28/who-was-neon/#comment-78210</guid>
		<description>I noticed today that &lt;em&gt;The Great Delusion&lt;/em&gt; is listed in the bibliography of Rolland A. Chaput, &lt;em&gt;Disarmament in British Foreign Policy&lt;/em&gt; (London: George Allen &amp; Unwin, 1935), 380. Which is only interesting because the author is listed as &#039;ACWORTH, MARION, &quot;Neon&quot;&#039;! (And a couple of books by her probable nephew Bernard are listed too.) It seems unlikely that Chaput had any direct knowledge of this -- it looks like he was an academic in Geneva. Anyway, this is the earliest source I have for the identification of Neon with Marion Acworth.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I noticed today that <em>The Great Delusion</em> is listed in the bibliography of Rolland A. Chaput, <em>Disarmament in British Foreign Policy</em> (London: George Allen &#038; Unwin, 1935), 380. Which is only interesting because the author is listed as 'ACWORTH, MARION, "Neon"'! (And a couple of books by her probable nephew Bernard are listed too.) It seems unlikely that Chaput had any direct knowledge of this -- it looks like he was an academic in Geneva. Anyway, this is the earliest source I have for the identification of Neon with Marion Acworth.</p>
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