"Make a small cross, of two light strips of cedar; the arms so long, as to reach the four corners of a large thin silk handkerchief, when extended: tie the corners of the handkerchief to the extremities of the cross; so you have the body of a kite..."

Love it.

Also, the first paper by Newton, on his new theory about light and colour. He was still just a "Mr."!

http://rstl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/6/69-80/3075....

A Professor before becoming a Dr... Those were the days...

I'm pretty sure Tony Hoare went straight from Elliot Brothers to a Professor of CS post in '68 and then onto a Professorship at Oxford.

There are plenty of professors out there without PhDs, even nowadays.

Not at Cambridge, and not in Physics, but they exist.

In my school at least, they were not called professors if they did not have a PhD, just lecturers.

That first referenced paper is very much in 'don't try this at home' territory.