David Gordon Wilson
David Gordon Wilson (born 1928) is emeritus professor of engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).[1]
Born in Warwickshire, England, Wilson went to the US on a post-doctoral fellowship in 1955. He returned to Britain in 1957 to work in the gas-turbine industry. He taught engineering in Nigeria from 1958 - 60. He started a branch of a US company in London and in 1961 was moved to the US. In 1966 he joined the MIT faculty and taught engineering design and pursued a long-standing interest into human-powered transport, coauthoring Bicycling Science. He is credited, along with Chester Kyle, with starting the modern recumbent bicycle movement in the USA.
A recumbent bicycle, the Avatar 2000, was designed by Wilson and Richard Forrestall in 1980. Tim Gartside (Australia) rode it as the Avatar Bluebell (UK) to a world record of 51.9 mph in the US in 1982. He also invented the carbon tax in 1973.[2]
Wilson is the co-founder of Wilson TurboPower, was founded in 2001 to commercialize two energy technologies developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).[3]
Wilson invented of the 'Wilson Turbogenerator'. An electrical efficiency of greater than 50% is claimed for his design. A prototype 300 kW microturbine was under development in 2008 when work was terminated and Wilson was removed from the board and, later, from his company.
Wilson lives in Winchester, Massachusetts with his wife, Ellen.
Notable publications
- Wilson, David Gordon; Whitt, Frank Rowland; et al. (April 2004). Bicycling Science (3rd paperback ed.). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-73154-6. Retrieved 2010-04-15.
- Wilson, David Gordon; Korakianitis, Theodosios (January 1998). The Design of High-Efficiency Turbomachinery and Gas Turbines (2nd paperback ed.). Prentice Hall. ISBN 978-0-13-312000-4. Retrieved 2010-06-21.
- Beck, Douglas; Wilson, David Gordon (January 1996). Gas-Turbine Regenerators (hardcover ed.). Springer. ISBN 978-0-412-98331-3. Retrieved 2010-09-05.
References
- ↑ "MIT MechE - David Gordon Wilson". Retrieved 5 September 2010.
- ↑ Berdik, Chris (10 August 2014). "The unsung inventor of the carbon tax". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 11 August 2014.
- ↑ "Wilson TurboPower, Inc. (copy @ Wayback Machine)". https://web.archive.org/web/20070101011757/http://www.wilsonturbopower.com/. External link in
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External links
- Wilson Turbogenerator at NREL (copy at Wayback Machine)