David Gordon Wilson (11 February 1928 – 2 May 2019) was a British-born engineer who served as a professor of engineering at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

(MIT) in the United States. Born in

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

, 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 to 1960. 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, wrote two textbooks on his specialty gas-turbine design with co-authors and also pursued a long-standing interest into

human-powered transport Human-powered transport is the transport of person(s) and/or goods using human muscle power. Unlike animal-powered transport, human-powered transport has existed since time immemorial in the form of walking, running and swimming. Modern techno ...

, coauthoring ''Bicycling Science''. He is credited, along with

Chester Kyle Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border, English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: Peop ...

, with starting the modern

recumbent bicycle A recumbent bicycle is a bicycle that places the rider in a laid-back reclining position. Most recumbent riders choose this type of design for ergonomic reasons: the rider's weight is distributed comfortably over a larger area, supported by ba ...

movement in the US. In 1980, Wilson and Richard Forrestall developed a

, the Avatar 2000. In 1982, Tim Gartside (Australia) rode a fully faired version as the Avatar Bluebell (UK) in a US event to a world record of 51.9 mph for 200 metres with a flying start. Wilson held more than 60 patents; in 1982, he told the ''

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'', "It’s a bit of a pain that all I’m known for is the bike. I’m very keen on some of the other things I do." He was also active in environmental causes, proposing a forerunner to the carbon tax in 1973, and leading a group that called for a

smoking ban Smoking bans, or smoke-free laws, are public policies, including criminal laws and occupational safety and health regulations, that prohibit tobacco smoking in certain spaces. The spaces most commonly affected by smoking bans are indoor work ...

in public places. In 2001, Wilson and Bruce co-founded Wilson TurboPower to commercialise two energy technologies developed at the

(MIT)—the Wilson Heat Exchanger, for which the company received $500,000 in funding from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative in 2008, and the Wilson Microturbine, which was described as a "high-performance 300 kW microturbine hatwill dramatically improve energy economics by producing over 50% electrical efficiency." In 2010, the company changed its name and its focus, becoming the Wilson Solarpower Corporation. Wilson lived in Winchester, Massachusetts with his second wife, Ellen.

Notable publications

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Memoirs

References

External links

Wilson Turbogenerator at NREL
(copy at Wayback Machine) {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, David Gordon 1928 births 2019 deaths People from Warwickshire English emigrants to the United States MIT School of Engineering faculty Cycle designers Cycling writers Sustainable transport pioneers