For his grandson, the cricketer, see George Cayley (cricketer). For the Royal Navy admiral and RAF general, see G. C. Cayley.
British aeronautics engineer (1773–1857)
Sir George Cayley
Bt
Portrait of Cayley c.1840 by Henry Perronet Briggs
Born
(1773-12-27)27 December 1773
Scarborough, Yorkshire, England
Died
15 December 1857(1857-12-15) (aged 83)
Brompton, Yorkshire, England
Nationality
English
Citizenship
British
Known for
Designed first successful human glider. Discovered the four aerodynamic forces of flight: weight, lift, drag, thrust; and cambered wings, basis for the design of the modern aeroplane.
Sir George Cayley,[1] 6th Baronet (27 December 1773 – 15 December 1857)[2] was an English engineer, inventor, and aviator. He is one of the most important people in the history of aeronautics. Many consider him to be the first true scientific aerial investigator and the first person to understand the underlying principles and forces of flight and the first man to create the wire wheel.[3]
In 1799, he set forth the concept of the modern aeroplane as a fixed-wing flying machine with separate systems for lift, propulsion, and control.[4][5]
He was a pioneer of aeronautical engineering and is sometimes referred to as "the father of aviation."[3] He identified the four forces which act on a heavier-than-air flying vehicle: weight, lift, drag and thrust.[6] Modern aeroplane design is based on those discoveries and on the importance of cambered wings, also proposed by Cayley.[7] He constructed the first flying model aeroplane and also diagrammed the elements of vertical flight.[8]
He also designed the first glider reliably reported to carry a human aloft. He correctly predicted that sustained flight would not occur until a lightweight engine was developed to provide adequate thrust and lift.[9] The Wright brothers acknowledged his importance to the development of aviation.[9]
Cayley represented the Whig party as Member of Parliament for Scarborough from 1832 to 1835, and in 1838, helped found the UK's first Polytechnic Institute, the Royal Polytechnic Institution (now University of Westminster) and served as its chairman for many years. He was elected as a Vice-President of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society in 1824.[10] He was a founding member of the British Association for the Advancement of Science and was a distant cousin of the mathematician Arthur Cayley.
^"George Cayley's life". hotairengines.org.
^Bagley, John A. "Cayley, Sir George, sixth baronet". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/37271. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
^ ab
"Sir George Cayley". Flyingmachines.org. Retrieved 26 July 2009.
"The Pioneers: Aviation and Airmodelling". Retrieved 26 July 2009.
"U.S Centennial of Flight Commission – Sir George Cayley". Archived from the original on 20 September 2008. Retrieved 10 September 2008.
^"Aviation History". Retrieved 26 July 2009.
^"Sir George Cayley (British Inventor and Scientist)". Britannica. Retrieved 26 July 2009.
^
Sir George Cayley – Making Aviation Practical U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission. Retrieved 28 June 2016
^C. H. Gibbs-Smith (20 September 1962) New Light on Cayley Flight International, link from Flightglobal
^"Sir George Cayley". U.S Centennial of Flight Commission. Retrieved 10 September 2008.
^ ab"The Pioneers: Aviation and Airmodelling". Retrieved 26 July 2009.
^Annual Report of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society for 1824 (Report). Yorkshire Philosophical Society. 1825. p. 34.
Sir GeorgeCayley, 6th Baronet (27 December 1773 – 15 December 1857) was an English engineer, inventor, and aviator. He is one of the most important people...
London, England, on 16 August 1821. His father, Henry Cayley, was a distant cousin of Sir GeorgeCayley, the aeronautics engineer innovator, and descended...
controlled heavier-than-air powered flight". They built on the works of GeorgeCayley dating from 1799, when he set forth the concept of the modern airplane...
around the late 19th to early 20th centuries, although the work of Sir GeorgeCayley dates from the last decade of the 18th to the mid-19th century. One...
death and did not reappear until it had been overtaken by the work of GeorgeCayley. The modern era of lighter-than-air flight began early in the 17th century...
led to the foundation of modern aerodynamics, most notably by Sir GeorgeCayley. Balloons, both free-flying and tethered, began to be used for military...
Automata. Retrieved:May 6, 2012. "Sir GeorgeCayley". Flyingmachines.org. Retrieved 27 August 2019. Sir GeorgeCayley is one of the most important people...
the 1600s, most notably by famous Dutch polymath Christiaan Huygens. GeorgeCayley also experimented with the design in the early 1800s as an aircraft...
single-spar sesquiplanes. The stacking of wing planes was suggested by Sir GeorgeCayley in 1843. Hiram Maxim adopted the idea for his steam-powered test rig...
solve for the flow around all but the simplest of shapes. In 1799, Sir GeorgeCayley became the first person to identify the four aerodynamic forces of flight...
information and publications about aeronautics. Drawing on the work of Sir GeorgeCayley, Chanute, Lilienthal, Leonardo da Vinci, and Langley, they began their...
connected with manufacturers, mining operations and rural economy.” Sir GeorgeCayley (1773–1857), the "father of aeronautical engineering", was the first...
throughout the 19th century sought to achieve heavier-than-air flight. GeorgeCayley developed the concept of the modern fixed-wing aircraft in 1799, and...
capable of controlled free-flight were gliders. A glider designed by GeorgeCayley carried out the first true manned, controlled flight in 1853. The first...
The seat belt invented by Sir GeorgeCayley (1773–1857). 1808: Tension-spoke wire wheels invented by Sir GeorgeCayley (1773–1857). 1829: First practical...
used on many motorcycles. They were invented by aeronautical engineer GeorgeCayley and first used in bicycles by James Starley. A process of assembling...
the first working hot air engine. Amontons was later followed by Sir GeorgeCayley. This engine type was of those in which the fire is enclosed, and fed...
Arthur Cayley, 3rd Baronet (c. 1654–1727) Sir GeorgeCayley, 4th Baronet (c. 1707–1791) Sir Thomas Cayley, 5th Baronet (1732–1792) Sir GeorgeCayley, 6th...
construction of aircraft. Modern aerospace began with Engineer GeorgeCayley in 1799. Cayley proposed an aircraft with a "fixed wing and a horizontal and...
and in 1784, demonstrated it to the French Academy of Sciences. Sir GeorgeCayley, influenced by a childhood fascination with the Chinese flying top,...
the Hindenburg was the first to be captured on newsreel. In 1799, Sir GeorgeCayley set forth the concept of the modern airplane as a fixed-wing flying...
pioneers around the start of the 20th century although the work of Sir GeorgeCayley has recently been dated as being from the last decade of the 18th century...
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