James D. DeLaurier is an inventor and

professor emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

of the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies. He is a leader in design and analysis of lighter than air vehicles and flapping winged aircraft.

Career

He received his bachelor of science degree from the

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

and his PhD in Aeronautics and

Astronautics Astronautics (or cosmonautics) is the theory and practice of travel beyond Earth's atmosphere into outer space. Spaceflight is one of its main applications and space science its overarching field. The term ''astronautics'' (originally ''astron ...

from Stanford University. He then worked at the

NASA Ames Research Center The Ames Research Center (ARC), also known as NASA Ames, is a major NASA research center at Moffett Federal Airfield in California's Silicon Valley. It was founded in 1939 as the second National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) labora ...

during the Apollo Program in 1965–66. In 1970 he began working with Sheldahl Corporation to develop scientific balloon designs and he designed a wing shaped balloon that would later be the inspiration for a new design of solar hybrid airship. In 1974 DeLaurier established a research team at UTIAS, and was in charge of the Low-Speed Aerodynamics Laboratory. The DeLaurier lab developed wind tunnel models and flying prototypes for a new breed of airships including the Magnus

Airship An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air under its own power. Aerostats gain their lift from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air. In early ...

in the mid 1980s. His team designed flight-dynamic simulation for airships and aerostats that have been used for the certification of new commercial airships in England, the U.S. and Germany. The team, along with John Martin, designed the first successful free-flying aircraft solely powered by

microwave power transmission Wireless power transfer (WPT), wireless power transmission, wireless energy transmission (WET), or electromagnetic power transfer is the transmission of electrical energy without wires as a physical link. In a wireless power transmission system ...

. This project was the initiative of the Communications Research Centre, and was called SHARP (Stationary High-Altitude Relay Platform). The DeLaurier lab, along with Jeremy M. Harris, designed and built a proof-of-concept scaled

ornithopter An ornithopter (from Greek ''ornis, ornith-'' "bird" and ''pteron'' "wing") is an aircraft that flies by flapping its wings. Designers sought to imitate the flapping-wing flight of birds, bats, and insects. Though machines may differ in form, ...

that is recognized by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale as the world's first successful remotely piloted engine-powered flapping-wing aircraft ( UTIAS Ornithopter No.1 or, more commonly, "Mr. Bill"). The team then went on to design and build an engine-powered human-carrying ornithopter, called "The Great Flapper", which took off from the ground and sustained flight on 8 July 2006. The thrust from the flapping wings was boosted by a model-aircraft jet engine.

Recognition

*"Diplôme d'Honneur" from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale – 1988 (SHARP project) and 1991 (ornithopter project) * Popular Science "Best of What's New" award – 1992 (ornithopter project) and 2002 (Mentor MAV) *

Popular Mechanics ''Popular Mechanics'' (sometimes PM or PopMech) is a magazine of popular science and technology, featuring automotive, home, outdoor, electronics, science, do-it-yourself, and technology topics. Military topics, aviation and transportation o ...

"Design and Engineering" award – 1993 (ornithopter project) *Rolex "Spirit of Enterprise" Award – 1993 (ornithopter project) *Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute “Romeo Vachon Award” – 1994 (ornithopter project) and “McCurdy Award”- 2007 (achievement in creative aspects of aeronautical engineering) *Berblinger Prize for innovative aircraft from Ülm, Germany – 1998 (ornithopter project)

References

''Toronto Star'' article about first human-carrying ornithopter flightUTIAS faculty directory

External links

Official site of Project Ornithopter, the team that built the first human-carrying ornithopter
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni American aerospace engineers Living people Stanford University alumni Year of birth missing (living people) {{US-engineer-stub