Henry Selby Hele-Shaw - Page's Magazine 1902

Henry Selby Hele-Shaw FRS (1854–1941) was an English mechanical and automobile engineer. He was the inventor of the variable-pitch propeller, which contributed to British success in the

Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain, also known as the Air Battle for England (german: die Luftschlacht um England), was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defende ...

in 1940, and he experimented with flows through thin cells. Flows through such configurations are named in his honour (

Hele-Shaw flow Hele-Shaw flow is defined as Stokes flow between two parallel flat plates separated by an infinitesimally small gap, named after Henry Selby Hele-Shaw, who studied the problem in 1898. Various problems in fluid mechanics can be approximated to Hele ...

s). He was also a co-founder of

Victaulic Victaulic is a developer and manufacturer of mechanical pipe joining systems, and the originator of the grooved pipe couplings joining system. The firm is a global company with 15 major manufacturing facilities, 28 branches, and over 3600 emplo ...

Life

Born on 29 July 1854 at

Billericay Billericay ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Basildon, Essex, England. It lies within the London Basin and constitutes a commuter town east of Central London. The town has three secondary schools and a variety of open spaces. It is ...

, he was the eldest son of Henry Shaw (1825 – 1880), a lawyer who went bankrupt, and his wife Marion Selby Hele (1834 – 1891), daughter of the Reverend Henry Selby Hele, vicar of

Grays Thurrock Grays or Greys may refer to: Places * Grays Bay, Nunavut, Canada * Grays, Essex, a town in Essex, England ** Grays railway station ** Grays School * Grays, Kent, a hamlet in Kent, England * Rotherfield Greys or Greys, a village in Oxfordshire, En ...

and grandson of the Reverend George Horne. He was first articled at the age of 17 to Messrs Rouch and Leaker, at the Mardyke Engineering Works, Bristol and served an engineering apprenticeship until 1876. Hele-Shaw was also elected a Whitworth Scholar. He was the first Professor of Engineering at

University College, Bristol University College, Bristol was an educational institution which existed from 1876 to 1909. It was the predecessor institution to the University of Bristol, which gained a royal charter in 1909. During its time the college mainly served the midd ...

, and in 1885 became the first to hold the Harrison Chair of Engineering at

Liverpool University College , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...

and was also a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

.'For the Advancement of Learning (The University of Liverpool 1881 - 1981)', Thomas Kelly, Liverpool University Press, 1981. In 1923 Hele-Shaw founded the

Whitworth Society The Whitworth Society was founded in 1923 by Henry Selby Hele-Shaw, then president of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Its purposes are to promote engineering in the United Kingdom, and more specifically to support all Whitworth Scholars ...

and was the Society's first President.

The Whitworth Society The Whitworth Society was founded in 1923 by Henry Selby Hele-Shaw, then president of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Its purposes are to promote engineering in the United Kingdom, and more specifically to support all Whitworth Scholars ...

still exists and provides an informal contact between all ages of Whitworth Scholar and a means to promote engineering in the UK. The aim of the society is to bring closer those who have benefited from

Sir Joseph Whitworth Sir Joseph Whitworth, 1st Baronet (21 December 1803 – 22 January 1887) was an English engineer, entrepreneur, inventor and philanthropist. In 1841, he devised the British Standard Whitworth system, which created an accepted standard for scre ...

's generosity. He was awarded the

Franklin Institute The Franklin Institute is a science museum and the center of science education and research in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is named after the American scientist and statesman Benjamin Franklin. It houses the Benjamin Franklin National Memori ...

Certificate of Merit The Certificate of Merit Medal was a military decoration of the United States Army that was issued between the years of 1905 and 1918. The Certificate of Merit Medal replaced the much older Certificate of Merit which was authorized by the United ...

in 1933. He died on 30 January 1941 at

Ross-on-Wye Ross-on-Wye (Welsh: ''Rhosan ar Wy'') is a market town in England, near the border with Wales. It had a population of 10,582 according to the 2011 census, estimated at 11,309 in 2019. It lies in south-eastern Herefordshire, on the River Wye and ...

Lectures

In 1902 Hele-Shaw was invited to deliver the Royal Institution Christmas Lecture ''Locomotion : On the Earth, Through the Water, in the Air''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hele-Shaw, Henry Selby 1854 births 1941 deaths Fluid dynamicists English mechanical engineers Fellows of the Royal Society People from Billericay

Life

Lectures

See also

References