Authorised form of name | Ellington; Charles Porter (1952 - 2019) |
Dates | 1952 - 2019 |
Nationality | American |
Place of birth | Maryland, USA |
Date of birth | 31/12/1952 |
Date of death | 30/07/2019 |
Occupation | Zoologist |
Research field | Animal mechanics |
Biomechanics |
Biology |
Physiology |
Activity | Education: Duke University, USA, BA (1973); Downing College, University of Cambridge, UK, MA (1979), PhD (1982) Career: Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Research assistant (1976-1979); University Demonstrator (1979-1984); University lecturer (19984-1997); Reader in animal mechanics (1997 - ); Professor; Emeritus Professor Memberships: Cambridge Philosophical Society; Society for Experimental Biology; Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology
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Membership category | Fellow |
Date of election | 14/05/1998 |
Age at election | 45 |
OtherInfo | Charles Ellington was a zoologist who remodelled our understanding of how insects fly and the aerodynamics of hovering. Charles used biomechanics, wind tunnel experiments and other empirical methods to collect data, which are also important for validating computer simulations in other animal flight investigations.
Charles spent several years proving that bumblebees and other insects could not possibly fly according to the conventional theories of aerodynamics; they should fall out of the air. He then visualised the airflow over their wings and discovered a novel three-dimensional flow, similar in form to the spiral vortices over Concord wings.
In both cases, strong vortices are shed from the leading edges, greatly reducing the pressure above the wings and thus generating extra lift. Concord does this in steady flight, but the insects achieve it by their flapping motion. These spiral leading-edge vortices provide the main unsteady high-lift mechanism that allows insects to fly.
Professor Charles Ellington FRS died on 30 July 2019. |
Source | Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Ellington |
Virtual International Authority File | http://viaf.org/viaf/7567979 |
Code | NA299 |
Archives associated with this Fellow
RefNo | Title | Date |
IM/001286 | Ellington, Charles Porter | 1998 |
EC/1998/15 | Ellington, Charles Porter: certificate of election to the Royal Society | 1997 |