Daniela Helbig

Helbig studies different concepts of air as theyemerged during the 1920s and 1930s from different setsof practices: pilots' experiences of the materiality of airduring flight, and scientists' inquiries into the mechanicsof air flow. Based on a set of case-studies of pilots andan investigation of research done at two major centers offluid dynamics, Göttingen and Cambridge, her dissertationwill explore how the interactions and tensions betweenexperiential and theoretical concepts of air were translatedinto distinct domains of expertise in the establishment ofthe first major European airlines.