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Sir James Dyson (born 2 May 1947) is a British inventor, industrial designer, farmer, and billionaire entrepreneur who founded
Dyson Ltd. He is best known as the inventor of the dual cyclone bagless
vacuum cleaner
A vacuum cleaner, also known simply as a vacuum or a hoover, is a device that causes suction in order to remove dirt from floors, upholstery, draperies, and other surfaces. It is generally electrically driven.
The dirt is collected by either a ...
, which works on the principle of
cyclonic separation
Cyclonic separation is a method of removing particulates from an air, gas or liquid stream, without the use of filters, through vortex separation. When removing particulate matter from liquid, a hydrocyclone is used; while from gas, a gas cyclone ...
. According to the
''Sunday Times'' Rich List 2022, he is the second richest person in the UK with an estimated net worth of £23 billion.
He served as the Provost of the
Royal College of Art
The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It o ...
from August 2011 to July 2017, and opened a new university, the
Dyson Institute of Engineering and Technology
The Dyson Institute of Engineering and Technology is a private institution of higher education in England, founded in 2017 by James Dyson and based at the Dyson technology campus in Malmesbury, Wiltshire. Students work in a position in the Dyson ...
, on Dyson's Wiltshire campus in September 2017.
Early life and education
James Dyson was born 2 May 1947 in
Cromer
Cromer ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish on the north coast of the English county of Norfolk. It is north of Norwich, north-northeast of London and east of Sheringham on the North Sea coastline.
The local government authorities are Nor ...
,
Norfolk
Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...
, one of three children,
and named after his grandfather,
James Dyson
Sir James Dyson (born 2 May 1947) is a British inventor, industrial designer, farmer, and billionaire entrepreneur who founded Dyson Ltd. He is best known as the inventor of the dual cyclone bagless vacuum cleaner, which works on the princi ...
. He was educated at
Gresham's School, an
independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
boarding school in
Holt, Norfolk
Holt is a market town, civil parish and electoral ward in the English county of Norfolk. The town is north of the city of Norwich, west of Cromer and east of King's Lynn. The town has a population of 3,550, rising and including the ward to 3 ...
, from 1956 to 1965, when his father died of prostate cancer. He excelled at long-distance running: "I was quite good at it, not because I was physically good, but because I had more determination. I learnt determination from it."
He spent one year (1965–1966) at the
Byam Shaw School of Art
The Byam Shaw School of Art, often known simply as Byam Shaw, was an independent art school in London, England, which specialised in fine art and offered foundation and degree level courses. It was founded in 1910 by John Liston Byam Shaw and ...
, and then studied
furniture and interior design at the
Royal College of Art
The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It o ...
(1966–1970) before moving into engineering. It was while attending the Royal College of Art to study fine art that Dyson made the switch to industrial design due in part to the tutorage of a structural engineer
Anthony Hunt
Anthony James Hunt (22 June 1932 – 16 August 2022), familiarly known as Tony Hunt, was a British structural engineer of numerous world-renowned buildings, with a career spanning from the 1950s until his retirement in 2002. As a leading propo ...
.
Early inventions
Dyson helped design the
Sea Truck
The Rotork Sea Truck is a flat-hulled, high-speed watercraft, similar to a small landing craft. Made from fibreglass, they may be used to land vehicles without jetty, jetties or harbour facilities. They were designed by the design team at Smallfry ...
in 1970 while studying at the Royal College of Art. His first original invention, the
Ballbarrow
The Ballbarrow was a variation of the wheelbarrow design, by James Dyson and was released in 1974 in the UK. It featured a moulded plastic hopper
Hopper or hoppers may refer to:
Places
*Hopper, Illinois
* Hopper, West Virginia
* Hopper, a mou ...
, was a modified version of a wheelbarrow using a ball instead of a wheel. This was featured on the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
's ''
Tomorrow's World
''Tomorrow's World'' is a former British television series about contemporary developments in science and technology. First transmitted on 7 July 1965 on BBC1, it ran for 38 years until it was cancelled at the beginning of 2003. The ''Tomorro ...
'' television programme. Dyson stuck with the idea of a ball, inventing the Trolleyball, a trolley that launched boats. He then designed the Wheelboat, which could travel at speeds of 64 kilometres per hour (40 mph) on both land and water.
Vacuum cleaners
![Dyson](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/Dyson.cleaner.dc07.arp.jpg)
In the late 1970s, Dyson had the idea of using
cyclonic separation
Cyclonic separation is a method of removing particulates from an air, gas or liquid stream, without the use of filters, through vortex separation. When removing particulate matter from liquid, a hydrocyclone is used; while from gas, a gas cyclone ...
to create a
vacuum cleaner
A vacuum cleaner, also known simply as a vacuum or a hoover, is a device that causes suction in order to remove dirt from floors, upholstery, draperies, and other surfaces. It is generally electrically driven.
The dirt is collected by either a ...
that would not lose suction as it picked up dirt. He became frustrated with his
Hoover Junior's diminishing performance: the dust bag pores kept becoming clogged with dust thus reducing suction. The cyclone idea came from a
sawmill
A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...
that used cyclone technology.
[Issue: ''The Journal of Business and Design'', vol. 8, no. 1]
Partly supported by his wife's salary as an art teacher, and after five years and about 5,127
prototypes, Dyson launched the "G-Force" cleaner in 1983.
However, no manufacturer or distributor would handle his product in the UK, as it would have disturbed the valuable market for replacement dust bags, so Dyson launched it in Japan through catalogue sales.
Manufactured in bright pink, the G-Force sold for the equivalent of £2,000. It won the
1991 International Design Fair Prize in Japan. He filed a series of patents for his dual cyclone vacuum cleane
EP0037674in 1980. After his invention was rejected by the major manufacturers, Dyson set up his own manufacturing company,
Dyson Ltd. In June 1993, he opened a research centre and factory in
Malmesbury
Malmesbury () is a town and civil parish in north Wiltshire, England, which lies approximately west of Swindon, northeast of Bristol, and north of Chippenham. The older part of the town is on a hilltop which is almost surrounded by the upp ...
, Wiltshire.
Dyson's slogan, "say goodbye to the bag", proved attractive to the buying public. The Dyson Dual Cyclone became the fastest-selling vacuum cleaner ever made in the UK and outsold those of some of the companies that rejected his idea, becoming one of the most popular brands in the UK. In early 2005, it was reported that Dyson cleaners had become the market leaders in the United States by value (though not by the number of units sold). Dyson licensed the technology in North America from 1986 to 2001 to
Fantom Technologies
Fantom Technologies, Inc. was a Canadian household appliance company founded in Welland, Ontario in 1986 as IONA Appliances, with offices in Buffalo, New York, U.S. A manufacturer of dual-cyclonic type vacuum cleaners, they were inspired from th ...
, after which Dyson entered the market directly.
Following his success, other major manufacturers began to market their own cyclonic vacuum cleaners. In 1999, Dyson sued
Hoover (UK) for patent infringement. The
High Court ruled that Hoover had deliberately copied a fundamental part of his patented designs in making its Triple Vortex bagless vacuum cleaner range. Hoover agreed to pay damages of £4 million.
In mid-2014, Dyson personally appeared in Tokyo to introduce his "360 Eye"
robotic vacuum cleaner
A robotic vacuum cleaner, sometimes called a robovac or a roomba as a generic trademark, is an autonomous robotic vacuum cleaner which has a limited vacuum floor cleaning system combined with sensors and robotic drives with programmable controll ...
. Dyson's initial entry into this market segment features 360° scanning and mapping for navigation, cyclonic dust separation, a custom-designed digital motor for high suction, tank treads for traction, a full-width brushroll bar, and user interface via a free
iOS
iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...
or
Android app.
Interviewed by ''
Fast Company
''Fast Company'' is a monthly American business magazine published in print and online that focuses on technology, business, and design. It publishes six print issues per year.
History
''Fast Company'' was launched in November 1995 by Alan Web ...
'' (May 2007), Dyson asserted the importance of failure in one's life, "I made 5,127 prototypes of my vacuum before I got it right. There were 5,126 failures. But I learned from each one. That's how I came up with a solution. So I don't mind failure. I've always thought that schoolchildren should be marked by the number of failures they've had. The child who tries strange things and experiences lots of failures to get there is probably more creative."
Other inventions
In 2000, Dyson expanded his appliance range to include a
washing machine
A washing machine (laundry machine, clothes washer, washer, or simply wash) is a home appliance used to wash laundry. The term is mostly applied to machines that use water as opposed to dry cleaning (which uses alternative cleaning fluids and ...
called the
ContraRotator, which had two rotating drums moving in opposite directions. The range was decorated in the usual bright Dyson colours, rather than the traditional white, grey, or black of most other machines. It was not a commercial success and was discontinued in 2005.
In 2002, Dyson created a realisation of the
optical illusions depicted in the
lithographs
Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...
of Dutch artist
M. C. Escher
Maurits Cornelis Escher (; 17 June 1898 – 27 March 1972) was a Dutch graphic artist who made mathematically inspired woodcuts, lithographs, and mezzotints.
Despite wide popular interest, Escher was for most of his life neglected in t ...
. Engineer Derek Phillips was able to accomplish the task after a year of work, creating a
water sculpture in which the water appears to flow up to the tops of four ramps arranged in a square, before cascading to the bottom of the next ramp. Called ''Wrong Garden'', it was displayed at the
Chelsea Flower Show in 2003. The illusion is accomplished with water containing air bubbles pumped through a chamber underneath the transparent glass ramps to a slit at the top from which the bulk of the water cascades down. This makes it appear that the water is flowing up, when really, a small amount of water diverted from the slit at the top flows back down the ramps in a thin layer.
![DysonAirblade](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/DysonAirblade.jpg)
In October 2006 Dyson launched the
Dyson Airblade
Dyson Airblade is an electric hand dryer made by the Wiltshire, UK based company Dyson, found in public bathrooms across the United Kingdom. It was introduced in the United Kingdom in 2006 and in the United States in late 2007. In 2013 the Airbla ...
, a fast
hand dryer
A hand dryer is an electric machine which might make use of a heating element and an air blower to dry the hands after hand washing. It is commonly used in public toilets as a cost-effective alternative to paper towels.
It may either operate wit ...
that uses a thin sheet of moving air as a
squeegee
A squeegee or squilgee is a tool with a flat, smooth rubber blade, used to remove or control the flow of liquid on a flat surface. It is used for cleaning and in printing.
The earliest written references to squeegees date from the mid-19th cent ...
to remove water, rather than attempting to
evaporate it with heat. This allows for faster drying, while using much less energy than traditional electrical hand dryers.
Another product, launched on 18 October 2009, is a
fan without external blades, which he calls the Air Multiplier.
In April 2016, Dyson launched the Dyson Supersonic, a
hair dryer
A hair dryer, hairdryer or blow dryer is an electromechanical device that blows ambient or hot air over damp hair to speed the evaporation of water to dry the hair. Blow dryers enable better control over the shape and style of hair, by accelerat ...
with a smaller motor located in the handle to provide better balance and smaller size, as well as quieter operation. Commenting on the launch,
''Vogue'' magazine said "as the first product to launch from Dyson's new UK state-of-the-art hair laboratory, we have high hopes for the future of our blow-dries."
Research and development
In 2017 Dyson spent £7 million a week on research and development of new products. The company is the UK's biggest investor in robotics and artificial intelligence research, employing over 3,500 engineers and scientists, and engaging in more than 40 university research programmes. Speaking to the ''
Daily Telegraph'', Dyson said, “We’re looking at more non-domestic products but we are not rushing to do lots of different things,” he said. “We are a private company so we can do it when we are ready.”
In November 2014, Dyson announced plans to invest a further £1.5 billion into the research and development of new technology, including funding for an expanded campus at the Dyson UK headquarters in Malmesbury which will create up to 3,000 jobs.
The then
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
David Cameron, said: "Dyson is a great British success story and the expansion of the Malmesbury campus will create thousands of new jobs, providing a real boost to the local economy and financial security for more hardworking families. Investment on this scale shows confidence in our long-term economic plan to back business, create more jobs and secure a brighter future for Britain".
In March 2016, Dyson announced a second new multimillion-pound research and development centre on a former Ministry of Defence (MoD) site at
Hullavington
Hullavington is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, just to the north of the M4 motorway. The village lies about southwest of Malmesbury and north of Chippenham.
The Fosse Way, a Roman road, forms the western boundary of the par ...
, Wiltshire. The company said it aimed to double its UK-based workforce in the next five or six years. Dyson said: "After 25 years of UK growth, and continuing expansion globally, we are fast outgrowing our Malmesbury Campus. To win on the world stage you have to develop new technology and develop great products and that's what we're doing here.".
In September 2017, Dyson announced plans to produce an
electric vehicle, aiming to be launched in 2020, investing £2 billion of his own money.
He assembled a team of more than 400 people for the project.
According to reports, the vehicle was intended to be powered by a
solid-state battery
A solid-state battery is a battery technology that uses solid electrodes and a solid electrolyte, instead of the liquid or polymer gel electrolytes found in lithium-ion or lithium polymer batteries.
While solid electrolytes were first discovered ...
, Dyson having acquired the battery company
Sakti3 in 2015.
In October 2019, Dyson announced that the electric car project had been cancelled due to it not being commercially viable.
In 2017, he launched the
Dyson Institute of Engineering and Technology
The Dyson Institute of Engineering and Technology is a private institution of higher education in England, founded in 2017 by James Dyson and based at the Dyson technology campus in Malmesbury, Wiltshire. Students work in a position in the Dyson ...
.
[
]
Allegations of copyright infringement
Dyson has several times accused Chinese spies and students of copying technological and scientific secrets from the UK through the planting of software bugs and by infiltrating British industries, institutions, and universities after they left. He also complained that China benefits from stealing foreign designs, flouting of product copyrights, and a two-speed patent system that discriminates against foreign firms with unreasonably longer times.
Tax affairs
Sir James Dyson's tax affairs have been subject to considerable scrutiny in the British press across the political spectrum.
Lux Leaks
Dyson publicly stated in 2008, "I think it's wrong to direct your business for tax reasons. Your business should be where you can do it best". However, in 2009, his company Dyson Ltd incorporated a new parent company in Malta to create £300 million and £550 million in intercompany loans via Luxembourg and Isle of Man companies that increased tax-deductible interest payments in the UK between 2009 and 2012. The creation of the additional UK tax-deductible interest payments relied on deals with the Luxembourg tax authorities revealed in the 2014 Lux Leaks. The Dyson group stated to ''The Guardian'' in 2014: "At no time did the roup's formernon-UK structure deliver any significant tax advantage and, of the entities in question all have been dissolved".
Estimated tax contributions
In the 2022 Tax List published by ''The Sunday Times'' in January 2022, Sir James Dyson and his family were listed as 11th of the UK's 50 biggest taxpayers. The newspaper estimated £101 million was contributed for the last full year on record. The IPPR
The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) is a progressive think tank based in London. It was founded in 1988 and is an independent registered charity. IPPR has offices in Newcastle upon Tyne, Manchester, and Edinburgh. Funding comes from ...
think tank noted that only two of those listed in the 2021 ''Sunday Times'' Rich List – Dyson and the Weston family – were listed in that year's Tax List. In the previous three years, Dyson had featured at 6th, 4th and 3rd in the ''Sunday Times'' Tax List, with the newspaper estimating a total contribution of £345.8 million to the UK exchequer.
Europe
Pro-European Union
In 1998, Dyson was one of the chairmen and chief executives of 20 FTSE 100
The Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index, also called the FTSE 100 Index, FTSE 100, FTSE, or, informally, the "Footsie" , is a share index of the 100 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange with (in principle) the highest market ...
companies who signed a statement published in ''The Financial Times
The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Ni ...
'' calling on the government for early British membership of the Eurozone
The euro area, commonly called eurozone (EZ), is a currency union of 19 member states of the European Union (EU) that have adopted the euro ( €) as their primary currency and sole legal tender, and have thus fully implemented EMU polici ...
. He claimed that failure to join the euro would lead to the destruction of the British manufacturing base and said: "It does not mean that the jobs will go tomorrow but will drift abroad over a period and the longer-term future of Britain as a manufacturing nation will be blighted. Ministers had better understand that if we delay entry too long there may be nothing left to save."
Claiming that the strength of the pound was affecting his company's profits on exports to France and Germany, in February 2000 Dyson threatened to shift focus from his Malmesbury plant to a new plant set up in Malaysia because the government would not join the euro. He said: "We would expect to double in size in the next two years. We are talking about a £100 million investment and up to 2,000 jobs. I would like to make that investment in the UK. But it seems that is not going to be possible. The value of sterling means we are struggling to compete at home with cheap imports from Europe and the Far East. We do around £40 million worth of export business with France and Germany each year but we aren't making any money. If we joined the euro we would be on an even footing with our biggest trading partners." An editorial published in ''The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...
'' responded: "Mr Dyson, a manufacturing version of Sir Richard Branson, likes complaining. Yesterday he was complaining that Britain's failure to join the euro and the resultant strong pound will force him to move abroad. Last week he blamed the price of land and planning delays in Wiltshire, but never mind. So where will he go? To Portugal, Italy or to an EU candidate such as Poland? No, Mr Dyson threatens to go to the Far East. Like so many entrepreneurs, he wants a cheap currency and low interest rates, but also low inflation, low wages, a flexible labour market and low regulation. He will not find them in the eurozone."
Dyson again threatened to shift production abroad in November 2000, saying: "It's suicidal for the UK not to join the euro. Why should we go on exporting at a loss? We're facing unfair competition." In February 2002, Dyson announced that production was being shifted to the Far East. In August 2003, the assembly of washing machines was also switched from Malmesbury to Malaysia.
Pro-Brexit
Dyson was one of the most prominent UK business leaders to publicly support Brexit
Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC ...
before the referendum in June 2016. Since the referendum
A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...
, Dyson has stated that Britain should leave the EU Single Market and that this would "liberate" the economy and allow Britain to strike its own trade deals around the world. During 2016, 19% of Dyson Ltd exports went to EU countries, compared with 81% to non-EU countries. In 2017, Dyson suggested that the UK should leave the EU without an interim deal and that "uncertainty is an opportunity". Previously, in 2014, Dyson had said he would be voting to leave the European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
to avoid being "dominated and bullied by the Germans". In November 2017, Dyson was critical of the UK government Brexit negotiations and said "we should just walk away and they will come to us". After it became public in January 2019 that Dyson's company was to move its headquarters from Malmesbury to Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...
, he was accused of hypocrisy regarding his campaign for Brexit.
European Court of Justice
In November 2015, Dyson lost its case against EU energy labelling laws in the European General Court
The General Court, informally known as the European General Court (EGC), is a constituent court of the Court of Justice of the European Union. It hears actions taken against the institutions of the European Union by individuals and member stat ...
; however, a subsequent appeal in the European Court of Justice said that the previous ruling had "distorted the facts" and "erred in law".
Libel case against Channel 4 and ITN
In 2022 Dyson sued Channel 4 and ITN over allegations of exploitation of workers at one of his suppliers’ factories. In the High Court, it was ruled that there was no personal defamation.
Philanthropy
Dyson set up the James Dyson Foundation in 2002 to support design and engineering education. It is a registered charity under English law and operates in the UK, US, and Japan. The foundation aims to inspire young people to study engineering and become engineers by encouraging students to think differently and to make mistakes. The foundation supports engineering education in schools and universities, as well as medical and scientific research in partnership with charities. It achieves this by funding resources such as the "Engineering Box", a box filled with activities for a school to use as a teaching aid.
In May 2014, the foundation announced an £8 million donation to create a technology hub at the University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...
. The donation would also allow for a design and construction lab to be developed for undergraduate engineering students.
In March 2015, the foundation gave £12 million to Imperial College London
Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...
to allow the purchase of a Post Office building in Exhibition Road
Exhibition Road is a street in South Kensington, London which is home to several major museums and academic establishments, including the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Science Museum and the Natural History Museum.
Overview
The road gets i ...
from the Science Museum
A science museum is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, industry and industrial machinery, etc. Modern trends in ...
. Imperial College were to open the Dyson School of Design Engineering in this building, and teach a new four-year master's degree in design engineering.
Around 2021, the foundation gave £4million towards the construction of a £27m hub for cancer services at the Royal United Hospital
The Royal United Hospital (RUH) is a major acute-care hospital in the Weston suburb of Bath, England, which lies approximately west of the city centre. The hospital has 565 beds and occupies a site. It is the area's major accident and emergenc ...
, Bath, to be called the Dyson Cancer Centre. This followed a £500,000 donation to the Dyson Centre for Neonatal Care at the same hospital, which opened in 2011.
The foundation supports the work of young designers through the James Dyson Award, an international design award that "celebrates, encourages and inspires the next generation of design engineers".
Dyson is also a trustee of The James and Deirdre Dyson Trust, a separate charity through which the couple make personal donations in various fields. In June 2019, the charity announced a donation of £18.75 million to Dyson's old school, Gresham's, for the building of a new science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM) building. The Gresham's project was completed in 2021.
Honours and awards
* In 1997 Dyson was awarded the Prince Philip Designers Prize
The Prince Philip Designers Prize is an annual design recognition given by the Chartered Society of Designers and originally awarded by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021).
It is the longest running design award in the United Kingdom, h ...
.
* Dyson was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...
(CBE) in the 1998 New Year Honours
The New Year Honours 1998 for the United Kingdom, Barbados, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Christopher and Nevis were announced on 30 December 1 ...
for services to industrial design.
* In 2000, he received the Lord Lloyd of Kilgerran Award.
* He received an honorary doctorate from the University of Bath
(Virgil, Georgics II)
, mottoeng = Learn the culture proper to each after its kind
, established = 1886 (Merchant Venturers Technical College) 1960 (Bristol College of Science and Technology) 1966 (Bath University of Technology) 1971 (univ ...
in 2000.
* In 2005 Dyson was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering
Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) is an award and fellowship for engineers who are recognised by the Royal Academy of Engineering as being the best and brightest engineers, inventors and technologists in the UK and from aroun ...
(FREng) and appointed a Royal Designer for Industry
Royal Designer for Industry is a distinction established by the British Royal Society of Arts (RSA) in 1936, to encourage a high standard of industrial design and enhance the status of designers. It is awarded to people who have achieved "sustaine ...
.
* Dyson was appointed Knight Bachelor
The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised orders of chivalry; it is a part of the British honours system. Knights Bachelor are th ...
in the 2007 New Year Honours for services to business.
* Dyson was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2015.[ One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where: ]
* Dyson was appointed to the Order of Merit (OM) in the 2016 New Year Honours
The New Year Honours 2016 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebratio ...
for achievements in industrial design.
* In 2017 Dyson was awarded IEEE Honorary Membership.
* Dyson was provost of the Royal College of Art
The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It o ...
in London until 1 July 2017, having succeeded Sir Terence Conran
Sir Terence Orby Conran (4 October 1931 – 12 September 2020) was an English designer, restaurateur, retailer and writer. He founded the Design Museum in Shad Thames, London in 1989 The British designer Thomas Heatherwick said that Conran ...
in August 2011, and is patron of the Design & Technology Association.
* He was chair of the board of trustees of the Design Museum, "the first in the world to showcase design of the manufactured object", until suddenly resigning in September 2004, saying the museum had "become a style showcase" instead of "upholding its mission to encourage serious design of the manufactured object".
* Dyson was elected an international member of the National Academy of Engineering
The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Engineering is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of ...
in 2019, for the development of advanced technologies and innovative products and contributions to design and engineering education.
Personal life
Dyson married Deirdre Hindmarsh in 1968.[ They have three children: two sons and a daughter.][
In 1999, he acquired Domaine des Rabelles, an estate and winery near Villecroze and ]Tourtour
Tourtour (; oc, Tortor) is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. It is a member of ''Les Plus Beaux Villages de France'' ("The most beautiful villages of France") association.
Geograph ...
, Var
Var or VAR may refer to:
Places
* Var (department), a department of France
* Var (river), France
* Vār, Iran, village in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran
* Var, Iran (disambiguation), other places in Iran
* Vár, a village in Obreja commune, Ca ...
, France. In 2003, Dyson paid £15 million for Dodington Park
Dodington Park is a country house and estate in Dodington, South Gloucestershire, England. The house was built by James Wyatt for Christopher Bethell Codrington (of the Codrington baronets). The family had made their fortune from sugar pl ...
, a Georgian
Georgian may refer to:
Common meanings
* Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country)
** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group
** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians
**Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
estate in South Gloucestershire
South Gloucestershire is a unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, South West England. Towns in the area include Yate, Chipping Sodbury, Thornbury, Filton, Patchway and Bradley Stoke, the latter three forming ...
close to Chipping Sodbury. He and his wife also own a house in Chelsea, London
Chelsea is an affluent area in west London, England, due south-west of Charing Cross by approximately 2.5 miles. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames and for postal purposes is part of the south-western postal area.
Chelsea histori ...
.
His vessel '' Nahlin'' is the largest British-flagged and -owned super yacht with an overall length
The overall length (OAL) of an ammunition cartridge is a measurement from the base of the brass shell casing to the tip of the bullet, seated into the brass casing. Cartridge overall length, or "COL", is important to safe functioning of reloads i ...
of , and was ranked 36th in a 2013 survey of the world's 100 biggest yachts. He also owns two Gulfstream G650ER
The Gulfstream G650 is a large business jet produced by Gulfstream Aerospace. private jets registered G-VIOF and G-GSVI. He previously owned an older Gulfstream G650, registered G-ULFS and currently owns a AgustaWestland AW-139 helicopter.
In July 2019, Dyson spent £43 million on a triplex flat at the top of the Guoco Tower
Guoco Tower is a mixed-use development skyscraper in Tanjong Pagar of the Downtown Core district of Singapore. With a height of , it is currently the List of tallest buildings in Singapore#Tallest buildings, tallest building in Singapore, break ...
, the tallest building in Singapore. He sold the flat in October 2020 for £36 million, and in April 2021 it was reported that he had moved his place of residence back to the UK. Dyson has also invested heavily into buying agriculture lands across Lincolnshire, Oxfordshire, and Gloucestershire.
Publications
Dyson's publications include two autobiographies:
* ''Against the Odds: An Autobiography'' (1997)
* ''Invention: A Life'' (2021)
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dyson, James
1947 births
Living people
People from Cromer
People educated at Gresham's School
Alumni of the Royal College of Art
Alumni of the Byam Shaw School of Art
Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
Knights Bachelor
Members of the Order of Merit
English inventors
Product designers
English industrial designers
Fellows of the Royal Society
Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering
Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering
20th-century British businesspeople
21st-century British businesspeople
Businesspeople awarded knighthoods
English philanthropists
British Eurosceptics
English farmers
English landowners
Founders of academic institutions
English billionaires
Compasso d'Oro Award recipients