Leonard Bairstow
Sir Leonard Bairstow | |
|---|---|
| Born | 25 June 1880[2][3] |
| Died | 8 September 1963 (aged 83)[4][3] |
| Alma mater | Royal College of Science |
| Awards | Fellow of the Royal Society[1] |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | National Physical Laboratory |
Sir Leonard Bairstow CBE FRS FRAeS (25 June 1880 – 8 September 1963)[1][3] was an English aeronautical engineer. Bairstow is best remembered for his work in aviation and for Bairstow's method for arbitrarily finding the roots of polynomials.
Early life and education[edit]
Bairstow was born in Halifax, Yorkshire, the son of Uriah Bairstow, a wealthy and keen mathematician. As a boy, Leonard went to Queens Road and Moorside Council Schools before going to Heath Grammar School which he attended briefly before going to the Council Secondary School - then known as the Higher Grade School. A scholarship took him to the Royal College of Science where he secured a Whitworth Scholarship which enabled him to carry out research into explosion of gases.
Career[edit]
He then went to the National Physical Laboratory at Bushy Park where ultimately he became head of aeroplane research work. He made a major analytical contribution to the report of the R101 inquiry, which sought to discover how the airship disaster occurred.[5] He held the Zaharoff Chair of Aviation at Imperial College London from 1920-1949 and became Professor Sir Leonard Bairstow. For a time his assistant there was Beatrice Mabel Cave-Browne-Cave, a pioneer in the mathematics of aeronautics.
Awards and honours[edit]
He became a member of the Royal Society of London[1] and the Royal Aeronautical Society.
References[edit]
- ^ a b c Fage, A.; Nayler, J. L.; Relf, E. F.; Temple, G. (1965). "Leonard Bairstow 1880-1963". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 11: 22–40. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1965.0002.
- ^ 1939 England and Wales Register
- ^ a b c G. Temple (2004). "Bairstow, Sir Leonard". In McConnell, Anita (ed.). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/30543. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1861-1941
- ^ R101 Inquiry
External links[edit]
| International | |
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| National | |
| Academics | |
| Other | |
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- 1880 births
- 1963 deaths
- People from Halifax, West Yorkshire
- English mathematicians
- Academics of Imperial College London
- Fellows of the Royal Society
- Knights Bachelor
- Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
- Fellows of the Royal Aeronautical Society
- People educated at Heath Grammar School
- Scientists of the National Physical Laboratory (United Kingdom)
- British mathematician stubs