Alec David Young (15 August 1913 – 27 January 2005) was a

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aeronautical engineer Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is si ...

. Alec Young was the son of refugees from Russia who raised him in Stepney, London. He attended

Central Foundation Boys' School ''(By hope, by work, by faith)'' , established = 1865 , closed = , type = Voluntary aided school , religious_affiliation = , president = , head_label = , ...

for his secondary education. He first noticed his future wife Dora Caplan when they were both studying at a public library. In December 1931 he sat for examination at

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

and was successful at winning an

Exhibition An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibition ...

Gonville and Caius College Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of th ...

. In order to achieve matriculation in one of the classical languages, a condition of entry at the time, he was obliged to make an intense study of

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over a 6 month period and was duly awarded a School Certificate in the subject in June 1932. Beyond his studies at Cambridge, Alec played tennis, swam, was cox of a rowing eight, and courted Dora. After graduation he continued study with

Melvill Jones Sir Bennett Melvill Jones, (28 January 1887 – 31 October 1975) was Francis Mond Professor of Aeronautical Engineering at the University of Cambridge from 1919 to 1952. He demonstrated the importance of streamlining in aircraft design. It had ...

who had written "The Streamline Aeroplane" for the

Royal Aeronautical Society The Royal Aeronautical Society, also known as the RAeS, is a British multi-disciplinary professional institution dedicated to the global aerospace community. Founded in 1866, it is the oldest aeronautical society in the world. Members, Fellows ...

in 1929. Their study aimed to reduce

parasitic drag Parasitic drag, also known as profile drag, is a type of aerodynamic drag that acts on any object when the object is moving through a fluid. Parasitic drag is a combination of form drag and skin friction drag. It affects all objects regardless of ...

of an aircraft. Alec published his findings with the Aeronautical Research Council. In 1936 he went to the Aerodynamics Department of the

Royal Aircraft Establishment The Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) was a British research establishment, known by several different names during its history, that eventually came under the aegis of the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), bef ...

Farnborough, Hampshire Farnborough is a town in northeast Hampshire, England, part of the borough of Rushmoor and the Farnborough/Aldershot Built-up Area. Farnborough was founded in Anglo-Saxons, Saxon times and is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. The name is ...

. There he became a member of the

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and was able to marry his sweetheart Dora. They were to have two sons, Robert and Jonathan. Minimization of drag was his focus, even measuring drag of rivet heads, lap joints, gaps and paint. He was able to give corrective instructions for the Hampden bomber and some trainers. In 1942 he began to work with wind tunnels and

William Hawthorne Sir William Rede Hawthorne CBE, FRS, FREng, FIMECHE, FRAES, (22 May 1913 – 16 September 2011) was a British professor of engineering who worked on the development of the jet engine. Bragg-Hawthorne equation is named after him. Life ...

in development of

jet engine A jet engine is a type of reaction engine discharging a fast-moving jet of heated gas (usually air) that generates thrust by jet propulsion. While this broad definition can include rocket, Pump-jet, water jet, and hybrid propulsion, the term ...

s. The work sought to determine high-speed flow characteristics in inlets, curved and straight ducts, and diffusers. He also worked with

Sydney Goldstein Sydney Goldstein FRS (3 December 1903, Kingston upon Hull – 22 January 1989, Cambridge, MA) was a British mathematician noted for his contribution to fluid dynamics. He is described as: "... one of those who most influenced progress in fluid d ...

of the National Physical Laboratory to extend the Prandtl-Glauert transformation from two to three dimensions. In July 1946 Alec became Senior Lecturer at the

College of Aeronautics, Cranfield , mottoeng = After clouds light , established = 1946 - College of Aeronautics 1969 - Cranfield Institute of Technology (gained university status by royal charter) 1993 - Cranfield University (adopted current name) , type = Public research uni ...

. One of Alec's collaborations there was with

Abraham Robinson Abraham Robinson (born Robinsohn; October 6, 1918 – April 11, 1974) was a mathematician who is most widely known for development of nonstandard analysis, a mathematically rigorous system whereby infinitesimal and infinite numbers were reincorpo ...

on 3D flows approaching the

speed of sound The speed of sound is the distance travelled per unit of time by a sound wave as it propagates through an elastic medium. At , the speed of sound in air is about , or one kilometre in or one mile in . It depends strongly on temperature as w ...

. Another project attempted

noise control Noise control or noise mitigation is a set of strategies to reduce noise pollution or to reduce the impact of that noise, whether outdoors or indoors. Overview The main areas of noise mitigation or abatement are: transportation noise control, ...

of jet engines by modification of the efflux nozzle to improve mixing with external flow. He was awarded a

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

and collected some royalties. Daughter Judith arrived in 1949, and the following year Alec became

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

at Cranfield. In 1951 he was elected Fellow of the

. In 1954 he became Professor of Aeronautical Engineering,

Queen Mary College, University of London Queen Mary University of London (QMUL, or informally QM, and previously Queen Mary and Westfield College) is a public university, public research university in Mile End, East London, England. It is a member institution of the federal University of ...

. In 1962 he was elected Dean of the Faculty of Engineering. A bachelor's degree in

avionics Avionics (a blend word, blend of ''aviation'' and ''electronics'') are the Electronics, electronic systems used on aircraft. Avionic systems include communications, Air navigation, navigation, the display and management of multiple systems, ...

was pioneered in collaboration with

Marconi Electronic Systems Marconi Electronic Systems (MES), or GEC-Marconi as it was until 1998, was the defence arm of General Electric Company (GEC). It was demerged from GEC and bought by British Aerospace (BAe) on 30 November 1999 to form BAE Systems. GEC then renam ...

. In 1966 he became Vice-Principal at the College. His research following up the causes of the tragic Munich air crash of 1958, which resulted in the deaths of most of the Manchester United football team, was of great interest to the media, because in pinpointing the slush on the runway as the key factor, rather than the ice on the wings, the pilot of the aircraft was vindicated and the airport authorities were seen to be at fault in giving the go-ahead for take-off. Dora Young developed a brain tumor in 1968 and died in 1970. The following year daughter Judith married

Herman Waldmann Herman Waldmann FRS FMedSci (born 27 February 1945) is a British immunologist known for his work on therapeutic monoclonal antibodies. As of 2013, he is Emeritus Professor of Pathology at the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology at the Univers ...

. His mother, a widow, then married Alec the widower. He formally retired in 1978 but continued to be very active academically with some collaborations on the research front, with consultancy both in the UK and abroad, guest lectures and the authorship of articles and several books. He was awarded an OBE in 1964, and elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

in 1973. He was awarded the

Ludwig-Prandtl-Ring The Ludwig Prandtl Ring is the highest award of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Luft- und Raumfahrt (German Society for Aeronautics and Astronautics), awarded "for outstanding contribution in the field of aerospace engineering". The award is named ...

from the

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Luft- und Raumfahrt German Society for Aeronautics and Astronautics (DGLR; german: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Luft- und Raumfahrt - Lilienthal-Oberth e.V.) is a German aerospace society. It was founded in 1912 under the name of ''Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft für ...

(German Society for Aeronautics and Astronautics) for "outstanding contribution in the field of aerospace engineering" in 1976. He is buried in the Jewish Section of

Cambridge City Cemetery Cambridge City Cemetery is the main burial ground for the city of Cambridge in Cambridgeshire. It is to the north of the city, at the junction of Newmarket Road and Ditton Lane, near to Cambridge Airport. The cemetery held its first burial on 6 ...

Selected publications

* 1952: ''Principles of the Control and Stability of Aircraft'',

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* 1953: Chapter "Boundary layers" in Howarth: ''Modern developments in fluid dynamics: high speed flow'',

Clarendon Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

* 1960: (with W. J. Duncan & A. S. Thom) ''The Mechanics of Fluids'', Edward Arnold * 1970: (with M. Zamir) "Experimental investigation of the boundary layer in a streamwise corner", ''Aeronautical Quarterly'' 21: 313–39,

* 1971: (with O. O. Mojola) "An experimental investigation of the turbulent boundary layer along a streamwise corner",

AGARD The Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development (AGARD) was an agency of NATO that existed from 1952 to 1996. AGARD was founded as an Agency of the NATO Military Committee. It was set up in May 1952 with headquarters in Neuilly sur Sein ...

CP 93. * 1979: (with M. Zamir) "Pressure gradient and leading edge effects on the corner boundary layer", ''Aeronautical Quarterly'' 30; 471–84. * 1984: ''The Aerodynamics of Controls'', AGARD CP 384 * 1989: ''Boundary Layers'',

Blackwell Science Wiley-Blackwell is an international scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly publishing business of John Wiley & Sons. It was formed by the merger of John Wiley & Sons Global Scientific, Technical, and Medical business with Blackwell Publish ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Young, Alec David 1913 births 2005 deaths Fellows of the Royal Society British Jews Jewish scientists British aerospace engineers Engineering educators Members of the Order of the British Empire Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Academics of Queen Mary University of London Ludwig-Prandtl-Ring recipients Burials at the Cambridge City Cemetery