[veja o original em português] The 2016 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in Rio de Janeiro has revived the discussion (at least in Brazil) about the invention of the airplane. Depending on the criteria you use, you can choose if it was the Americans or the Brazilian. But this controversy involves a theme even deeper, which is the way Americans and Europeans treat their inventions. I said “European” because Santos Dumont was born in Brazil, but was educated in France. He developed his aeronautical research under the influence of the European scientific environment. In a simplified way, I can say that Americans treat their inventions with the vision “I made it, and I want to make money selling it.” Obviously the Europeans also want to make money, but always with a real benefit to the community in general. Something like “I made it, and I want to earn money by sharing...
