Record

RefNoEC/1990/27
LevelItem
TitlePennycuick, Colin James: certificate of election to the Royal Society
Date1988
DescriptionCitation typed
CitationPennycuick is distinguished for his contributions to the mechanics of bird and bat flight, especially of gliding and soaring. He pioneered the use of wind tunnels for investigations of animal flight kinematics and gliding performance. He has made remarkable quantitative observations of bird flight in many parts of the world, both from aircraft and (using his 'ornithodolite') from the ground, and has related flight behaviour through aerodynamic properties to wing morphology. With colleagues, he used helium-filled soap bubbles to visualize airflow in the wakes of flying birds, greatly improving our understanding of flapping flight. He has also made valuable contributions to our understanding of bird navigation and migration, of the foraging behaviour of East African herbivores and of the aerobic power output of muscles with different mitochondrial fractions.
AccessStatusClosed
Fellows associated with this archive
CodePersonNameDates
NA417Pennycuick; Colin James (1933 - 2019)1933 - 2019
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